ROME, March 26 (Reuters) – Italy’s financial police have seized assets worth around 20 million euros ($23.12 million) in an investigation into financial fraud targeting Swiss actress Ursula Andress, famous for her role in the first James Bond movie “Dr. No”.
The assets are believed to be the proceeds of money laundering and self-laundering crimes committed against the actress, the Guardia di Finanza police said in a statement on Thursday.
They include a luxury country estate in San Casciano in Val di Pesa, on the outskirts of Florence, with vineyards and olive groves, as well as art pieces and other financial assets, police added.
Andress had filed a criminal complaint in Switzerland, claiming she had been a victim of fraud by people who managed her finances through a series of “highly opaque” transactions, the Guardia di Finanza said.
The investigations in Italy and Switzerland identified “significant connections” between some of these transactions and Italy, particularly the Florence area, prompting Italian authorities to intervene, the statement added.
Andress, whose career peaked in the 1960s with roles alongside Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, Marcello Mastroianni, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Peter Sellers, turned 90 last week.
($1 = 0.8649 euros)
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Giulia Segreti and Ros Russell)
