Equalize case: examining magistrate confirms "granite-solid evidence" of hundreds of unlawful database accesses
The Milan examining magistrate describes as "granite-solid" the evidence of unlawful operations by investigation agency Equalize. First sentence ratifies plea agreement of 3 years and 10 months.
Equalize system: Milan examining magistrate certifies criminal association
The investigation agency Equalize managed a "well-oiled system of acquisition and management of sensitive data, obtained also through unlawful means", designed to profile hundreds of people for a vast clientele. This is reported by ANSA Cronaca, citing the reasons deposited by Milan examining magistrate Fiammetta Modica in the first sentence of the case, in which the judge ratified the plea agreement of 3 years and 10 months for Giulio Cornelli, 40, IT technician.
Cornelli, defended by lawyers Giovanni Tarquini and Pierpaolo Astorina, was placed under house arrest in October 2024. He subsequently collaborated with investigators, demonstrating what the examining magistrate describes as "remorse", distancing himself from the organisation. Modica qualifies him as a "mere participant" in the criminal association, fully recognising his collaboration in the reasons.
According to the examining magistrate's reconstruction, from the evidence collected "the existence of a criminal association" is proven, with the aim of committing "in an entrepreneurial form an indeterminate series" of unlawful accesses to strategic databases. The objective was to obtain "data, information, and details, including damaging material, about hundreds of people", through an "illegal profiling carried out in an unscrupulous and cavalier manner" made available to "a large circle of clients".
The "granite-solid evidence" — through telephone interceptions, environmental surveillance and electronic monitoring — of "hundreds of unlawful accesses" was collected in the investigation coordinated by the Milan Prosecutor's Office, headed by Marcello Viola, with prosecutors Francesco De Tommasi and Eugenio Fusco, and conducted by Carabinieri of the ROS.
The agency on via Pattari, steps away from the Duomo, was led by former public sector manager Enrico Pazzali. For the main strands of the case — which include two requests for trial, one for 74 defendants and over 800 people spied on including some celebrities — a major preliminary hearing is scheduled for 13 October before examining magistrate Tiziana Landoni.
Source: ANSA Cronaca