Alberto Maria Genovese

Alberto Maria Genovese (born 28 May 1977) is an Italian entrepreneur known for his successful start-ups and ventures in the tech sector. He is the founder and former chairman of Facile.it, a price-comparison platform with 70 branches, and of Prima Assicurazioni, a digital insurance company active in Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Both companies have achieved unicorn status.

Born in Naples, after completing high school, Genovese moved to Milan and studied Business Administration at Bocconi University. He subsequently pursued a Master's in Business Administration (MBA) at INSEAD in Fontainebleau and attended Harvard Business School in Boston. He started his career at Goldman Sachs in 1999 and subsequently worked at eBay from 2005 to 2009.

During Genovese's tenure as chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), Facile.it reached about 350 employees and attracted investment from members of the Berlusconi family. In 2014, the company was acquired by Oakley Capital Investments in a transaction reported at more than €100 million. In 2018, Prima Assicurazioni completed a €100 million financing round, at the time one of the largest investments in the Italian start-up sector. By 2020, the company had about 1.1 million customers, €290 million in premiums, and 339 employees.

Genovese was convicted of sexual assault and drug-related offences in 2020s proceedings that attracted widespread media coverage. Following his convictions, Genovese became involved in drug rehabilitation and volunteering initiatives, including activities supporting people affected by drug addiction and prisoners' social reintegration. His case has also been the subject of a Netflix docu-series.

Early life and career Genovese was born in Naples on 28 May 1977 into a middle-class family. Both of his parents were doctors, while his sister is a lawyer. Genovese's family stayed in Naples while he moved in Milan to study. In 1999, Genovese began his professional career in the Goldman Sachs equities division in London, before working as a strategic consultant for McKinsey & Company and subsequently Bain & Company.

Facile.it In 2008, Genovese founded Facile.it (initially named Assicurazione.it), a comparison website for insurance and financial products, and was its chairman and chief executive officer. According to Genovese, the idea originated from a conversation with his future business partner about the difficulty of finding the most convenient car-insurance policy online. Under his leadership, Facile.it reached 350 employees and closed an investment round with Luigi, Eleonora, and Barbara Berlusconi through its società a responsabilità limitata, Holding Italiana Quattordicesima. Facile.it subsequently grew to more than 1,000 employees, according to later accounts of the company's development.

Prima Assicurazioni In 2014, Genovese founded Prima Assicurazioni, a tech company operating as an insurance agency, and became its chairman and CEO. Genovese's strategy was to apply digital technology to established industries whose incumbent companies he considered insufficiently innovative. in what was reported as one of the largest investments in the Italian startup sector for the year. In 2019, Prima Assicurazioni collected more than €130 million in premiums and established partnerships with companies including Telepass and Conad. Prima Assicurazioni had 1.1 million customers, nearly €290 million in premiums, more than 5,000 customers each month for its claims service, and 339 staff members with an average age of 31. In November 2020, Genovese sold the final tranche of his stake in Prima Assicurazioni in a deal valued at €897 million. In 2022, Genovese sold his remaining 25% stake in Prima Assicurazioni for €200 million, bringing its valuation closer to €1 billion. In 2025, following Axa's acquisition of a 51% stake in Prima Assicurazioni, Genovese received an €89.7 million earn-out connected to his 2022 exit from the company; he had already disposed of his entire shareholding in 2022 and no longer held any corporate position at Prima Assicurazioni. After the sale of Facile.it, Genovese continued to pursue new ventures rather than leaving the tech sector. Unlike a conventional intermediary, the company purchased cars directly and then resold them after preparing them for the market.

Genovese was the chairman of Alberto Genovese Technologies, the holding company established by Genovese in late 2019 that controlled more than 50% of Prima Assicurazioni, a stake that was estimated at approximately €150 million. Zappyrent and Jobtech, both in the tech sector; and Mirta.com, an e-commerce company. and was also variously described as "the wizard of start-ups", a "genius", and a "successful businessman". Blackstone and Goldman Sachs, which held stakes in the company, supported the decision. The company formerly known as Alberto Genovese Technologies held a 58.31% stake in Prima Assicurazione among 15 shareholders, and its reported shareholders included Luxembourg-based AGH SA, Alej Holding AG, and TDA Industries GmbH, a Swiss company reportedly controlled through Zanjero Limited, based in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Arrest and investigations In October 2020, Genovese was accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman at his Milan penthouse, Terrazza Sentimento, after she had allegedly been rendered unconscious with drugs. The case attracted widespread media attention, and led to a broader investigation into multiple alleged assaults, as the parties held at the penthouse reportedly involved extensive drug use. He was arrested on 6 November 2020 on allegations that he had drugged and sexually assaulted a young woman for approximately 20 hours during a party at his Milan penthouse. According to the complainant's account, she was allegedly drugged during the party and taken to a room where she was subjected to sexual violence, while a bodyguard stationed outside prevented other people from entering. Further reports emerged in the following days, including the account of another woman who told prosecutors that she had been abused during a party, while investigators also began examining the circumstances surrounding other parties and possible victims.

By January 2021, six other women had filed complaints concerning alleged sexual violence. During questioning in October 2021, Genovese maintained that he had been a "slave" to drugs and said that he had not perceived "particular dissent" from the women with whom he had sex, whom he described as similarly intoxicated. According to a later reconstruction of his life, a period of increasing cocaine and drug use and increasingly frequent parties at his Milan apartment began around 2016, marking what was described as a progressive personal decline. The case also prompted debate over media coverage and victim-blaming. In November 2020, journalist Vittorio Feltri was criticised for an editorial published in Libero, in which he described the 18-year-old victim as "naive" and questioned her decision to attend Genovese's home. The controversy also involved an article published by Il Sole 24 Ore about the case, which was criticised for its treatment of the events and subsequently modified. The controversy was subsequently discussed by Vittorio Feltri and journalist Peter Gomez on the television programme La Confessione, where Feltri maintained that describing the victim as "naive" was not an offence, while Gomez argued that the article had contributed to victim-blaming. Genovese subsequently put Terrazza Sentimento up for sale.

In January 2021, Genovese was investigated in a separate financial investigation into his business activities and wealth. Prosecutors registered him for the alleged fraudulent transfer of assets, examining a network of companies and start-ups in which he held ownership interests or management positions, including entities based abroad. The investigation was intended to establish whether some of the companies had been used to conceal his ownership and whether there were grounds for allegations of tax fraud or money laundering. The financial investigation subsequently focused on Genovese's bank accounts, corporate holdings, and financial transactions. Prosecutors alleged that Genovese had treated certain employment-related income as capital income and had used the holding company Auliv in connection with the disposal of shares in Facile.it. In November 2021, Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation confirmed the seizure of €4.3 million. In its reasoning, the Supreme Court found that the tax allegations concerned, among other things, the treatment of income derived from Genovese's activities at Facile.it and the use of Auliv to manage financial flows and corporate interests. Prosecutors alleged that the arrangements had enabled him to finance personal expenditure, including the purchase and renovation of a villa in Ibiza and other luxury expenses.

Criminal trials and convictions In July 2021, Genovese left pre-trial detention at San Vittore Prison to undergo drug rehabilitation at the Crest community in Cuveglio, where he continued a drug-rehabilitation programme while under house arrest and electronic monitoring. For the sexual assault and drug-related charges arising from the 2020 incidents in Milan and Ibiza, Genovese requested a fast-track trial, which was approved in June 2022 by the Milan court. The charges concerned two women: an 18-year-old Italian model and student who was allegedly assaulted during a party at Terrazza Sentimento in Milan on 10 October 2020, and a 23-year-old Italian model who was allegedly assaulted at Villa Lolita, a luxury villa in Ibiza, on 10 July 2020. while the 23-year-old was reported to have suffered injuries that left her unable to continue working as a model and with a 40% permanent disability. The investigation also involved Genovese's then-girlfriend, Sarah Borruso, who was initially investigated for alleged complicity in the Ibiza assault, for which she was subsequently convicted as a co-defendant and sentenced to two years and five months' imprisonment.

Genovese's defence argued that his conduct was connected to drug addiction and mental health problems and sought recognition of diminished capacity. More specifically, Genovese's lawyers sought his full acquittal on the charges concerning the 23-year-old woman, while arguing for recognition of diminished capacity and the minimum sentence in relation to the assault against the 18-year-old woman. The court rejected the defence's arguments concerning diminished capacity and found that the violence had been committed with conscious cruelty. Genovese subsequently waived his right to appeal. Moreover, the court ordered Genovese to pay a €50,000 provisional compensation payment (provvisionale) to the 18-year-old victim, while leaving the full assessment of damages to separate civil proceedings; her lawyers had sought approximately €1.5 million in compensation. Although the reduction was a consequence of the applicable procedural provisions and did not overturn the convictions for rape, it drew criticism from the Italian national network of anti-violence centres, which argued that the Cartabia reform had further reduced a sentence that was already limited and could result in Genovese being released before the victims received adequate compensation. The sentence became final in March 2023 at six years and eleven months: five years and four months for drug trafficking and one year and seven months for sexual violence. The proceedings also included drug-related charges alongside the two rape convictions, while a separate investigation concerned an additional alleged assault. In May 2023, Genovese sought a further reduction of his sentence, arguing that the conditions he had experienced during his pre-trial detention at San Vittore Prison amounted to inhuman or degrading treatment. The application was based on Article 35-ter of the Italian penitentiary system, which provides for a reduction of the remaining sentence in cases where a prisoner has been subjected to treatment contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Following a hearing before the Milan Supervisory Court on 15 May, the judge reserved her decision on the application. At the same time, Genovese sought therapeutic community placement as an alternative to continued imprisonment. The Milan Prosecutor General's Office gave a favourable opinion to the request, noting that his remaining sentence was less than four years, and the case was referred to the Milan Supervisory Court. After it postponed its decision pending further documentation and a psychiatric assessment, the Milan Supervisory Court subsequently rejected the request in November 2023, concluding that Genovese had not adequately confronted the aspects of his personality associated with the offences and expressing concern that his focus on the risk of returning to drug use did not correspond to a comparable concern about the possible repetition of sexual offences.

Following the first conviction, further allegations were investigated; five of seven cases were ultimately archived, while the remaining allegations led to a second trial conducted between December 2023 and July 2024. The trial phase began in May 2024. In this separate second trial, concluded in July 2024, Genovese was acquitted of the sexual-assault charges involving a 24-year-old former girlfriend, who had accused him of multiple assaults between 2019 and 2020. He was instead convicted of a separate attempted sexual assault, obstruction of justice, and possession of child sexual abuse material. The attempted assault concerned a 22-year-old woman who—according to the prosecution—had been lured into a room by Borruso and found semi-conscious and undressed on 25 February 2020. Borruso was convicted as a co-defendant for the attempted sexual assault and sentenced to one year in prison; her sentence was subsequently converted into one year of community service in Rome. Genovese was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment, in continuation with the definitive six-year-and-eleven-month sentence from the first proceedings, and fined €6,000. The court found it proven that he had offered €8,000 to the 18-year-old victim from the first case in an attempt to induce her to alter the accusations in her complaint, and that he had possessed child sexual abuse material. The court also transmitted the case materials to the Milan Prosecutor's Office for an investigation into the former girlfriend on suspicion of calumny.

The full amount of civil damages owed to the victims has not been publicly determined beyond the €50,000 provisional payment ordered in the 2022 criminal proceedings; Genovese had previously offered €130,000 to the first victim and €25,000 to the second, but both offers were rejected. In January 2023, the first victim appealed on civil grounds, seeking slightly more than €2 million in damages, after the criminal court had awarded her a €50,000 provisional payment and referred the assessment of the full damages to the civil court. In the second trial, the victim of the attempted sexual assault for which Genovese was convicted was awarded €5,000 in compensation. By September 2024, the first victim had received the €50,000 provisional compensation payment ordered in the criminal proceedings, together with an additional undisclosed amount to settle the civil aspects of her claim.

In June 2024, in the tax evasion proceedings arising from the financial investigation opened in January 2021, Genovese sought a plea agreement €4.3 million in unpaid taxes, proposing a ten-month sentence converted into a €75,000 monetary penalty. On 2 July, the Milan court ratified the agreement, imposing the ten-month sentence converted into a €75,000 monetary penalty; Genovese had already reimbursed the tax authorities. In August 2024, the Milan Supervisory Court approved Genovese's request to perform volunteer work outside the detention facility. In December 2025, he reportedly spent his days volunteering among immigrants and homeless people, while remaining detained at night. In April 2026, Genovese was granted semi-liberty status, allowing him to work during the day while remaining subject to detention arrangements. His later activities also coincided with broader initiatives concerning prisoners' rights and the Italian prison system.

Personal life Genovese described travel as a personal interest and said that he had visited 94 countries by 2020. After obtaining a law degree in 2016, she supported him throughout his personal and legal difficulties in the 2020s. In 2023, the organisation was renamed the Laura and Alberto Genovese Foundation, retaining its focus on supporting people affected by drug addiction and their families. From 2024, Genovese began volunteering with the House of Charity in Milan, assisting with applications for housing registration by immigrants and disadvantaged people, and later also volunteered with the Wall of Dolls, an organisation supporting women and victims of femicide. In February 2026, the foundation launched House of Stefano, a residential community in Bodio Lomnago dedicated to providing accommodation and rehabilitation for people affected by drug addiction, offering therapeutic and social reintegration programmes. In July 2026, Genovese joined the board of directors of the association Hands Off Cain as head of fundraising.

In popular culture In November 2025, the events leading to the conviction of Genovese became the subject of Terrazza Sentimento (Start Up, Fall Down: From Billionaire to Convict), a docu-series produced by Paolo Garramone for Fremantle and directed by Nicola Prosatore, released on Netflix. The series reconstructs the events surrounding the parties held at Genovese's Milan penthouse and examines the social environment in which they took place. The docu-series received mixed reviews from Italian critics, with particular attention given to its use of artificial intelligence and to the way it combined documentary material with reconstruction and commentary.

Corriere della Sera criticised the series for combining archival material, interviews, investigative journalism, fiction, and AI-generated reconstructions in what was considered an unclear narrative. La Repubblica likewise criticised the use of AI reconstructions and simulated chats, arguing that the series blurred the boundary between empathy and entertainment. Other critics placed greater emphasis on the series' treatment of the women involved and its examination of victim blaming. iO Donna highlighted the documentary's attempt to connect the case to wider issues surrounding the sexual freedom of women and the social tendency to blame victims, while noting the central role of the AI reconstructions in the production's visual approach. The series was also criticised by the Italian Parents Movement (Moige), which argued that its treatment of Genovese's background and the Milan nightlife scene risked making the portrayal of the entrepreneur overly sympathetic and softening the representation of the dangers associated with drug use.