The Times conducted an investigation into Maria Riina, daughter of the well-known Salvatore Riina. She has long since moved to London where she started a new life by acquiring a business training agency called Formations House. During a trial in the 2011, prosecutors claimed that a British company headed by Ms. Riina, who had been seized by 2017 million-pound assets in 1,5 for ties to her father's criminal empire, had sold false divorces and organized illegal online lotteries.
His husband, Tony Ciavarello, was tried for fraud but was later acquitted. The company closed shortly after. “Whether it's Formations House or a blue chip attorney, people come to the UK because they're willing to do business with anyone,” said Ben Cowdock, a researcher at the anti-corruption charity Transparency International. "Here is an industry of convenience society because it is easy to "pass wool into people's eyes".
This week, an investigation by The Times, Finance Uncovered and Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) revealed how companies and bank accounts that referred to Formations House have been used by scammers and criminals around the world. In total, Formations House helped to register at least ten nominee companies linked to the Italian mafia. A company has aroused much interest because it is registered in the name of a man nicknamed Tonino the blond, who is serving a prison sentence for the Mafia. The Times and Finance Uncovered also revealed that in 2007, Ms Riina and Mr. Ciavarello founded the TeT Corporation Ltd, which then ended up at the center of an investigation into divorce fraud, illegal gambling and the sale of foreign degrees. Another figure linked to the TeT Corporation is Katie La Placa, daughter of another notorious mobster, Vincenzo La Placa. Three years after becoming a shareholder of the TeT Corporation, they confiscated over £ 11 million of assets. Despite the TeT Corporation collapsing after allegations of fraud, in 2015 Ms Riina opened a second UK company using the services of Formations House: Corleone Caffe Trading Ltd. He used the Formations House appointment plan, which provided delegates and business directors. Charlotte Pawar, chief executive of Formations House, said she was not the operator of Formations House when the companies were formed or dissolved. Pawar said: "All companies formed by Formations House have been done with the required due diligence. According to the SAR reporting protocols [reports of suspicious activity to the National Crime Agency] it was not revealed whether a report had been submitted. I also confirm that Formations House does not provide any service to the persons mentioned".