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Amilcare Sada

Partner

Amilcare Sada boasts a distinguished career spanning nearly two decades, during which he has provided expert guidance on a multitude of litigation matters, including domestic and international banking, finance, restructuring, insolvency, and commercial litigation.

His expertise extends to advising on criminal and regulatory investigations initiated by financial services authorities and public bodies (e.g. Consob, Bank of Italy, FSA and FCA), particularly in areas concerning white-collar crime, anti-money laundering, and sanctions enforcement, as well as on international arbitration. He advises major international and domestic clients active in various sectors (such as financial services, technology, life sciences, industrial and manufacturing, etc.).

Experience

Representative matters

An international bank, together with the appointed criminal counsel, as defendant, pursuant to Italian Legislative Decree 231/2001 on companies’ quasi-criminal liability and as vicarious liability in relation to a disputed financial transaction with a leading Italian bank. Our assistance included defending our client against the prosecutors’ request to seize EUR1.8bn of its assets. The Criminal Court of Siena rejected the prosecutors’ request which constitutes one of the largest seizure orders made against a single entity in Italy. Civil damages could amount to approximately hundreds of millions of Euros.

An international bank in various civil actions brought by certain shareholders in connection with our client having allegedly caused direct damages in relation to a EUR2bn capital increase by a listed company which allegedly led to an accounting fraud. The value of the claims is more than EUR700m.

An Italian SPV which invests in non-performing loans (NPLs) and is subscribed to by a major US investment bank, against a petition for bankruptcy filed against the SPV by certain service providers. This sets an important precedent about the bankruptcy remoteness of an Italian SPV against claims brought by third party service providers.

A Chinese bank, as defendant, in the biggest money laundering proceedings faced by a financial institution in Italy, involving more than 200 defendants (including a money transfer company) and charges of mafia association. The value of the flow of money, object of this complex regulatory case, was approximately EUR2bn.

 

 

 

Pro bono

Fair Trials/Racial discrimination in criminal justice (Matter Manager: Paul Flanagan): Between November and December 2020, we took part in a multi-jurisdictional project for Fair Trials – an NGO protecting human rights in the criminal justice system –  contributing to the development of a memo on racial and/or ethnic inequality and discrimination in criminal justice across EU countries to highlight any gaps in the EU Member States' legislative policy on such issues. This multi-jurisdictional memo was then used by Fair Trials for the presentation to the European Parliament of a paper on inequality and racism in the criminal justice systems of EU countries.

Open Society Justice Initiative/Discovery Research Project (Matter Manager: Brandon O’Neil): Pro bono legal assistance provided to the Open Society Justice Initiative to assess whether certain jurisdictions in Europe have procedures for discovery analogous to the US law, 28 USC 1782, which allows for discovery from US entities/individuals for use in non-American proceedings. The aim of this project was identifying for each target jurisdiction how litigants and/or other interested persons may obtain documents or witness evidence for use in proceedings in other jurisdictions.

 

 

 

 

 

Recognition

Amilcare is super commercial and really eager to help. He is very responsive, he really understands our commercial drivers and is a pleasure to work with
Chambers Europe 2024 - Dispute Resolution: Italy
He is very practical and commercial in his approach. He is always willing to go the extra mile in supporting our business
Chambers Europe 2024 - Dispute Resolution: Italy

Qualifications

Admissions

Admitted to practice before the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation and other Highest Courts, Italy, 2021
Admitted as avvocato, Italy, 2009

Academic

JD, University of Turin, 2005

Languages

English, Italian
Disclaimer
A&O Shearman was formed on May 1, 2024 by the combination of Shearman & Sterling LLP and Allen & Overy LLP and their respective affiliates (the legacy firms). Any matters referred to above may include matters undertaken by one or more of the legacy firms rather than A&O Shearman.