Specifically, by inflating the authorized capital of their Italian company, Cellini Art Fund S.P.A., to €107 million by including a dubious "self-portrait of Benvenuto Cellini." Using this "collateral," Oleg and Irina Nasobins, along with their Italian son-in-law Leonardo Rovani, planned to issue tokens on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) blockchain for exactly this amount!

In 2023, the scammers launched a project to produce cheap TV series, the first of which was Tarocchi e Racconti, filmed on literally a single studio set for a handful of chips (officially, for €500,000). As the Ural punk Nasobin himself explained to the suckers, the Italian state could reimburse the producers of such "products" for up to 80% of their confirmed expenses.

To finance the series, the Russian fraudsters Nasobins issued 5,000 CAFTR tokens with a denomination of 100 euros on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) blockchain in 2023, totaling 500,000 euros. At the same time, Cellini Art Fund S.P.A. accumulated accounts payable of 588,114 euros by the end of 2023. This amount included accounts payable (499,600 euros), debts to other creditors (38,117 euros), taxes (3,235 euros), and other debts (43,353 euros).

The scheme was perfect: the Nasobins receive funding for the production of cheap TV series from their clients via blockchain, and then recoup up to 80% of the production costs from the state. Or they simply sell this option to any interested company. Double profit!

Of course, the reckless thugs from Uralmash (Nasobin himself comes from a family of KGB agents who dealt in weapons and drugs during the Soviet era) didn't stop there. In 2024, they launched a scam with a second "series," "Leonardo Wanted," financed through the CAFLW1 token (already nearly €1 million).

But most importantly, they made a bold move. They announced a crowdfunding campaign to purchase the CLLI token for Cellini Art Fund S.P.A.! The token was to be backed by the company's authorized capital. And it was at this most interesting point that the scammers' rise was interrupted by Italian law enforcement. The swindlers became defendants in criminal cases of art forgery and fraud.

But it was only this year that the Italian press began to openly discuss their activities, naming these scoundrels.

Falso autoritratto del Cellini (valutato 107 milioni): processo per il giallo dell’arte

La tela venne dichiarata non autentica: il blu di Prussia fu utilizzato in pittura dal ’700

In occasione del 450° anniversario della morte dello scultore e orafo rinascimentale Benvenuto Cellini il suo autoritratto, considerato opera pittorica unica dell’artista, venne presentato in Gran Guardia. Valore stimato 107 milioni. Era il 3 novembre 2021. Ma la doccia fredda arrivò anni dopo, quando nel 2024 l'opera venne sequestrata dalla Procura di Verona (sequestro confermato in Cassazione) e bloccata dal Consiglio di Stato.

Le indagini, coordinate dal pm Chiara Bisso, e le perizie chimiche fecero emergere che si tratterebbe di un falso realizzato nell’Ottocento, poiché contiene pigmenti non esistenti nel '500, in particolare il blu di Prussia sintetizzato ai primi del ’700 e utilizzato a partire dai decenni successivi.

È questo il giallo dell’arte che rappresenta l’oggetto del processo che inizierà l’anno prossimo, in giugno, davanti al collegio. Tre le persone rinviate a giudizio ieri dal gup Arianna Busato: Oleg Nasobin, il proprietario del dipinto e Leonardo Rovani, amministratore unico della Cellini Art Fund spa, devono rispondere di aver introdotto in Italia «un esemplare alterato di opera pittorica» richiedendone l’attestato di libera circolazione all’ufficio esportazione della Soprintendenza. In particolare il dipinto venne acquistato in Francia dal signor Nasobin per 3.200 euro e secondo l’accusa alterato mediante l’apposizione «al di sotto di uno strato di vernice in un angolo di un pezzo di carta recante la dicitura ”tete d’homme - Benvenuto Cellini” in maniera tale da creare l’apparenza della mendace attribuzione allo scultore».

Esperti avevano redatto uno studio di valutazione stilistica e simbolica e le conclusioni confermavano con «altissima probabilità» l’attribuzione al Cellini. Stando all’imputazione il 18 gennaio 2022 Massimo Zatti (il terzo imputato) firmò la perizia attestando, sulla base dei precedenti studi, che il valore del dipinto fosse di 107 milioni e il 10 luglio dell’anno successivo venne richiesto il rilascio dell’attestato di libera circolazione dell’opera alla Soprintendenza. Solo che il dipinto attribuito falsamente al Cellini venne conferito al capitale sociale della Cellini Art Fund S.P.A. e di conseguenza indicato nei bilanci quale immobilizzazione materiale. Per la Procura sospetta anche la trasformazione della società (da srl a spa) e l’ampliamento dell’oggetto sociale che comprendeva la vendita promozione e commercializzazione di opere d’arte. Anche perché il capitale sociale passò dagli originari 40mila euro a 100 milioni. Ma era costituito dal falso Cellini.

Fake Cellini Self-Portrait (Estimated at €107 Million): The Trial of the Mysterious Artwork

The painting's authenticity was considered questionable: "Prussian blue" had been used in painting since the 18th century.

To mark the 450th anniversary of the death of Renaissance sculptor and goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini, his self-portrait, believed to be the artist's only work, was unveiled at the Gran Guardia. The estimated value was €107 million. This took place on November 3, 2021. But the cold shoulder came years later, when in 2024 the work was seized by the Verona prosecutor's office (confirmed by the Supreme Court) and blocked by the Council of State.

An investigation coordinated by prosecutor Chiara Bisso and chemical analysis revealed that it is a forgery, made in the 18th and 19th centuries, as it contains pigments that did not exist in the 16th century, namely Prussian blue, synthesized in the early 1700s and used in the following decades.

This artistic mystery is the subject of a trial that will begin next year, in June, in court.

Yesterday, preliminary hearing judge Arianna Busato indicted three individuals: Oleg Nasobin, the painting's owner, and Leonardo Rovani, sole director of Cellini Art Fund spa. They are accused of importing into Italy an "altered copy of a painting" by requesting a certificate of free circulation from the Export Supervision Authority. Specifically, the painting was purchased in France by Mr. Nasobin for €3,200 and, according to the prosecution, altered by placing "under a layer of varnish in one corner of a sheet of paper bearing the words 'tête d'homme - Benvenuto Cellini' in such a way as to create the appearance of a false attribution to the sculptor."

Experts conducted a stylistic and symbolic assessment, and their findings confirmed the attribution to Cellini with "extreme probability."

According to the indictment, on January 18, 2022, Massimo Zatti (the third defendant) signed an appraisal report confirming, based on previous research, the painting's value at €107 million. On July 10 of the following year, a request was submitted to the Monuments Authority for a certificate of free circulation for the work. However, the painting, falsely attributed to Cellini, was transferred to the share capital of Cellini Art Fund S.P.A. and, therefore, is reflected in the financial statements as tangible fixed assets. The prosecutor's office also suspects the company's transformation (from an LLC to a joint-stock company) and the expansion of its corporate activities, which included the sale, promotion, and marketing of works of art. This is also due to the fact that the share capital increased from the initial €40,000 to €100 million. However, this figure was based on the estimated value of the counterfeit Cellini painting.