Style blogger's glamorous world collapses amid fraud charges

For a while, Chiara Ferragni had it all.

- Olivia Petter, The Independent

Chiara Ferragni

A style influencer with a social media account that was earning up to six figures per post.Ambassadorships with Versace, Gucci, and L'Oreal, to name but a few. The 38-year-old Italian magnate had her own fashion, eyewear, fragrance, and beauty lines. A Netflix documentary has been made about her career and life with her famous rapper husband, whom she married in a 19th-century Sicilian palazzo, a wedding featured in American Vogue. A Kardashian-style reality TV series about their family, titled The Ferragnez. There was even a Barbie doll named after her. And yet, in 2023, the same year that her company was valued at €75m (£65m), Ferragni's extensive empire came crashing down — over a Christmas cake. Now, she's facing jail time on charges of aggravated fraud. Dubbed "Pandorogate" by the Italian media, the scandal unfolded after the Italian Competition Authority accused Ferragni of falsely suggesting that proceeds from sales of a special edition Pink Christmas Pandoro cake, a traditional Italian delicacy, that she sponsored would go to a children's hospital. The cakes were priced three times higher than normal.