Flavio Briatore

Briatore at the 1992 Mexican Grand Prix

**Flavio Briatore** (born 12 April 1950) is an Italian businessman. He started his career as a restaurant manager and insurance salesman in Italy. Briatore was convicted in Italy on several fraud charges in the 1980s, receiving two prison sentences, though the convictions were later extinguished by an amnesty. Briatore set up a number of successful Benetton franchises as a fugitive in the Virgin Islands and the United States. In 1990, he was promoted by Luciano Benetton to manage the Benetton Formula One racing team.

## Early life and Benetton career

Briatore was born in Verzuolo near Cuneo in the Maritime Alps to a family of elementary school teachers. After twice failing public (state) school, he attended a private (independent) school, receiving a diploma with the lowest grades in Land Surveying at Fassino di Busca high school. Briatore found early work as a ski instructor and restaurant manager. He opened a restaurant named *Tribüla*, which was Briatore's nickname. The restaurant was unsuccessful and had to close due to excessive debt.

In the 1970s, he moved to Cuneo and became an assistant to businessman Attilio Dutto, owner of the Paramatti Vernici paint company. Dutto was killed on 21 March 1979 in a car bomb attack by an unknown perpetrator.

Briatore moved to Milan and worked for Finanziaria Generale Italia at the Italian stock exchange. During this period, he met Luciano Benetton, founder of the Benetton clothing company.

### Convictions and fugitive status

Briatore was convicted of multiple counts of fraud in the 1980s, receiving two prison sentences. In 1984, a court in Bergamo found him guilty of various counts of fraud and he was fined and sentenced to one year and six months in prison. The sentence was subsequently reduced to one year by a court of appeal in 1988. In 1986, in Milan, Briatore was sentenced to three years for fraud and conspiracy for his role in a team of confidence tricksters who, over a number of years, set up rigged gambling games using fake playing cards. The judges described these as elaborate confidence tricks, in which victims were invited to dinner and then "ensnared" in rigged games that involved a cast of fictional characters and realised enormous profits for their perpetrators. After an appeal in 1987, the sentence was reduced to one year and two months. To avoid imprisonment, Briatore lived as a fugitive in Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands. He never went to prison and returned to the EU after both convictions were extinguished by amnesty.

During Briatore's fugitive status, he maintained close relations with Benetton and opened some Benetton stores in the Virgin Islands. When Benetton opened his first five stores in the United States in 1979, he appointed Briatore as director of the group's American operations. Thanks to Benetton's methods of franchising, the chain experienced a brief boom in popularity in the US, where, by 1989, there were 800 Benetton stores. Briatore, having taken a cut of each franchising agreement, became very wealthy. As store owners began to complain of competition from other Benetton stores, the number of stores decreased to 200 and Briatore began to look for a new business.

## Formula One

### Benetton Formula

Briatore attended his first Formula One race, the Australian Grand Prix, in 1988, having in the past proclaimed his lack of interest in the sport. Luciano Benetton appointed him commercial director of his Formula One team, Benetton Formula Ltd. (formerly Toleman), and when he fired the team management shortly thereafter, Briatore was promoted to managing director and set about turning Benetton into a competitive team.

## Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Flavio Briatore si racconta La Repubblica, by DARIO CRESTO-DINA, 16 October 2005 (in Italian)
2. ↑ The Apprentice: flop, inchieste, radiazioni, ma Briatore insegna successo e etica wikipedia:Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian)
3. ↑ La vera vita di Mr Billionaire (8 November 2010).
4. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Williams, Richard (17 September 2009). "Flavio Briatore undone by the charisma that powered his rise". *guardian.co.uk*. London. Retrieved 11 December 2009.
5. ↑ People: Flavio Briatore. *GrandPrix.com*.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 La Dolce Vita: What really drives Flavio Briatore? *The Independent*, Tuesday 23 September 2008, Susie Rushton
7. ↑ FLAVIO BRIATORE: BIOGRAFIA – Roma Explorer.
8. ↑ Arrestato Briatore, Corriere della Sera, 27 August 1999 (in Italian)
9. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>La Corte d'Appello di Brescia (Report). 22 March 1988. N. 579/85 del Reg. Gen. App.(in Italian)
10. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>ENRICO BONERANDI (28 November 1986). "UN ANNO E 10 MESI A FEDE PER LE BISCHE CLANDESTINE". *wikipedia:La Repubblica* (in Italian). p. 16.
11. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>La Corte d'Appello di Milano (Report). 13 November 1987. N. 1930/87 del Reg. Gen. App.(in Italian)
12. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>LEONARDO COEN (10 May 1984). "BISCHE CLANDESTINE, BERGAMO TREMA". *wikipedia:La Repubblica* (in Italian). p. 13.
13. ↑ Arrestato Briatore, Corriere della Sera (in Italian)
14. ↑ G. Barbacetto, *Briatore. Finito contro un muro*, in wikipedia:Il Fatto Quotidiano 27 September 2009, p. 14. (in Italian)
15. ↑ Who's Who: Flavio Briatore. F1Fanatic.co.uk (2007).