Italian influencer Ferragni won’t return to Tod’s board

Italian influencer Chiara Ferragni, caught up in a probe over alleged fraud in endorsement deals, will not return to the board of luxury shoemaker Tod’s, company documents revealed Thursday.

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Di.Vi. Finanziaria, the majority owner of Tod’s, published a list of nine candidates for the next term of the board of directors, and Ferragni was not among them.

Ferragni, a blogger and Instagram star, joined the board of directors of Tod’s in April 2021. The term of all board members, including hers, expired on December 31.

Di.Vi Finanziaria said shareholders would vote on the names at the upcoming shareholder’s meeting April 24.

Ferragni — who denies wrongdoing and says she acted “in good faith” — has been investigated over her 2022 promotion of a holiday “pandoro” cake that claimed to raise money for a children’s hospital.

Italy’s competition watchdog found in December that the producer of the cake had paid a fixed amount of 50,000 euros to the hospital months before it went on sale.

Ferragni’s companies made more than one million euros without having donated anything.

Two companies owned by Ferragni were fined approximately 1.4 million euros by the watchdog, while investigators in Milan launched a probe on allegations of suspected fraud.

Other endorsement deals of hers have also come under intense scrutiny.

Ferragni’s business empire is estimated by Forbes to be worth approximately $8 million per year, including her own brand.

She has earned lucrative endorsement contracts from top brands, although some have reportedly been pulled since the scandal broke.

Last month, Tod’s announced that it planned to delist from the Milan stock exchange and go private under a deal with private equity fund L Catterton, backed by French luxury conglomerate LVMH.