Lapo Elkann

A member of the Elkann family and Agnelli family and named after the 12th-century Italian poet Lapo Gianni, Elkann was born in New York City, the son of Countess Margherita Agnelli de Pahlen and the American-born Italian writer Alain Elkann. His father is Jewish and his mother is Catholic. He is the brother of John Elkann, the chairman of Fiat and the chairman and CEO of Exor, an investment company controlled by the Agnelli family, which also owns Juventus FC Elkann is a grandson of Fiat chairman Gianni Agnelli and Marella Agnelli. He is nephew of Don Carlo Caracciolo, member of the House of Caracciolo, founder of Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso and owner of the newspaper la Repubblica, the Italian daily general-interest newspaper. Elkann is also a stepson of a Russian nobleman, Count Sergei de Pahlen. Elkann has a filmmaker sister, Ginevra Elkann, and five half-siblings by his mother's second marriage. They are Maria, Pierre, Sophia, Anna, and Tatiana. He is a great-grandnephew of Ettore Ovazza, of the Ovazza banking family, via his grandmother, Carla Ovazza.

In a discussion about his childhood with Silvia Toffanin, Elkann said: "I didn't love it very much. I was a dyslexic, hyperactive child, suffering from attention deficit, and since I was always behind at school, I wanted to prove that I was strong." He graduated from the lycée et collège Victor-Duruy in Paris and from the European Business School London in international relations. He performed military service in the Alpini corps as a soldier in the Alpine Brigade "Taurinense". According to those who know him and his older brother well, they spoke of many similarities, such as the attachment to the family and particularly the grandfather, but also of many differences. In 2004, the elder Elkann was described as serious and rigorous, in contrast to the expansive and creative younger Elkann, who was in charge of operational marketing at Fiat, where he arrived at work at the Mirafiori plant every morning in a Fiat Panda rather than a Lancia Ypsilon, the model he personally helped to launch. From their father, the two Elkanns share the Jewish faith, which represented the first time that young heirs brought with them values and ethics that were different from those of the Catholic Agnelli family.

As is tradition in the education of the offspring of the Agnelli family, Elkann began his career in 1994 as a metal worker on the assembly line of Piaggio in Pontedera under the pseudonym of Lapo Rossi. During this period, he also participated in a strike action to demand an improvement of the uncomfortable working conditions in the assembly line. In 2001, Elkann worked as a personal assistant to Henry Kissinger, who had just been appointed chairman of the 9/11 Commission and was an old friend of his grandfather, Gianni Agnelli. He subsequently continued his work experience, which he started with different roles in Salomon Smith Barney and Danone, and worked as marketing associate for Ferrari and Maserati, where he spent four and a half years at the marketing office. Following Agnelli's worsening health conditions, Elkann decided to return to Italy in 2002 to be close to him. In 2003, he became Fiat's director of marketing.

Upon joining Fiat, Elkann asked to be able to take care of corporate promotion and communication, believing that the Fiat brand was suffering in this field, especially in the youth sector. He promoted the group's image by launching different types of gadgets, including sweatshirts worn by himself, with the vintage logo of the car manufacturer, and the launch of the Fiat Grande Punto. In 2004, with the appointment of his brother John Elkann as the group's vice-chairman, he became responsible for promotion for the three brands: Fiat, Alfa Romeo, and Lancia. In this period, he oversaw the worldwide launch of the new Fiat 500. Elkann resigned from his position in 2005. This came after it was widely reported that he had a serious cocaine and heroin addiction.

After a period of treatment, Elkann returned to Italy in January 2007. Along with Andrea Tessitore and Giovanni Accongiagioco, he founded Italia Independent, a company specializing in the production and sale of luxury eyewear, accessories, and clothing under the initials I–I, characterized by the possibility offered to the buyer to customize the product to be purchased. The first product, presented at Pitti Men in January 2007, was an eyewear model made entirely of carbon fibre. The company then developed a line of clothing, accessories, and with several collaborations in home and automotive decorations. In addition to eyewear, also launched were jewellery, a watch, a bicycle, and a skateboard for urban transport. The company was listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, on the AIM segment, on 28 June 2013.

On 4 July 2007, Elkann founded the Independent Ideas creative agency with Alberto Fusignani and Ivanmaria Vele, whose activity was documented for three months in the Idee in progress program of the satellite television channel Fox Life. From 30 October 2007 to June 2008, he was honorary president of the Italian Volleyball League club Sparkling Volley Milano; he is an international ambassador for the Milan Triennale, an ambassador for Tel HaShomer Hospital in Tel Aviv, and a board member of various companies, such as the auction house Phillips.

Elkann and the Independent Ideas agency collaborated with the Centro Stile Fiat and Frida Giannini in the "500 by Gucci" project, launched in Milan on 23 February 2011, and at the Geneva Motor Show on 1 March 2011. In October 2011, he received the America Award from the Italy–USA Foundation. In December 2011, Elkann launched the Ferrari Tailor Made project together with Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to build a tailor-made Ferrari, personalized on the specific requests of the customer. He also started a partnership project with ToyWatch, at the time owned by Gianluca Vacchi, producing a special edition of 1,007 ToyWatch watches combined with Italia Independent sunglasses from the I-Wear series. A Second Unique Edition followed the next year. In July 2013, he was honoured with the Automotive Hall of Fame's Young Leader & Excellence Award, the first member of the Agnelli family to receive it after his great-great-grandfather, Giovanni Agnelli.

In January 2017, Elkann joined the board of directors of Ferrari N.V., the holding company that controls the homonymous car manufacturer. In December 2017, he inaugurated Garage Italia Food & Restaurant in Piazzale Accursio in Milan, in an old Agip service station built by Mario Bacciocchi in the 1950s and renovated by Michele De Lucchi. The restaurant was a joint venture with chef Carlo Cracco to combine food and motoring events, that was announced in 2015. In April 2019, the restaurant closed and the company came entirely under the control of Laps to Go, Elkann's holding company. In February 2019, the venture capital fund Talent EuVeca, chaired by Giovanna Dossena, entered Italia Independent with a capital increase, which in the meantime became Italia Independent Group after it closed the 2018 financial statements with income in the red, and had to sell various assets. Dossena came to hold 25.44% while Elkann remained the largest shareholder at 53.92%.

Italia Independent Group closed 2021 with a turnover of €11.54 million, an increase of 1.7% compared to the €11.35 million obtained in the previous year. The final result was negative for €24.1 million, compared to the loss of €2.81 million recorded in 2020, as a result of write-downs and provisions for €18.12 million. At the end of December 2021, net debt had risen to €19.28 million, compared to €15.55 million at the beginning of the year. In a press release, the company said: "Despite the commitment made by management and the support of shareholders, Italia Independent has not managed to achieve the results envisaged in the business plans also due to external circumstances which have further aggravated the situation: the Covid emergency and the consequent lockdowns in various geographies, the instability of the markets, and the adverse macroeconomic context which has caused an increase and difficulty in procuring raw materials and the consequent growth in inflation." The statement added that "the company is open to evaluating reasonable measures such as to favour the redeployment of employees."

Elkann is 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) tall. Of Jewish ancestry through his father's side, he converted to Judaism in 2009. About his faith, Elkann told Verissimo: "I believe in God, and I pray a lot. I also feel close to the Jewish world, because first of all they saved me. And then I adore Israel." Passionate about new technologies and languages, he learned over the years to speak Italian, French, English, Portuguese, and Spanish. He said his best friend is his brother, John Elkann.

Elkann had many romances that were widely reported by gossip magazines. He had relationships with actress Martina Stella, socialite Bianca Brandolini d'Adda, businesswoman Goga Ashkenazi, actress Zhu Zhu, and gallerist Carlotta Loverini Botta. From 2016 to 2017, he dated Iranian-German model Shermine Shahrivar. By 2020, he was single, wished to become a father, and said that if he had a daughter, he would like to call her Italia. On 7 October 2021, Elkann married the Portuguese former rally raid racer Joana Lemos, and they moved to Lisbon. He met Lemos during a 2020 dinner in Portugal. Through the previous marriage of Lemos to Manuel Reymão Nogueira, which ended in 2014 after 18 years, Elkann is the stepfather of two children: Tomás and Martim.

On 11 October 2005, Elkann was hospitalized in serious condition in the intensive care unit of the Mauriziano Hospital in Turin due to an overdose of a mix of opiates and cocaine after a night in the company of several people, including a transgender woman who was the first to call an ambulance. Subsequently, he resigned from his positions in Fiat and moved to Arizona, where he began rehabilitation therapy, to continue with a period of convalescence in a family residence in Miami. About his past addictions, Elkann told Verissimo: "When you are alone, at a certain point you don't know how to deal with fragility. Substances destroy your life, and I have had problems. For me, the substance use was a way to anesthetize a pain I felt in me. Unfortunately I paid the consequences several times. I've done enough harm to myself, from now on I want more."

In December 2019, Elkann was involved in a car accident in Tel Aviv, where he was hospitalized; he was there on a road trip. After recovering from a ten-day coma, he moved to a clinic in Switzerland, and was seen on a wheelchair for a while; the accident led him to a change of lifestyle. In addition to working with the Laps Foundation, a non-profit organization created in 2016 in support of children with dyslexia, learning disabilities, abuses, addictions, and discriminations, he was involved in supporting the Italian Red Cross in the donations of shopping vouchers intended for the most needy families during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. He said: "I've decided to change my life, to help others, support others and do everything I can." The campaign, which raised over €400,000, won the 2021 UEFA Foundation for Children award. Through Laps, he leased a Boeing to take 150 Ukrainian refugees to safety, along with ten dogs and five cats, in April 2022.

In October 2013, Elkann gave an interview to Beatrice Borromeo, of Il Fatto Quotidiano, in which he said that he had suffered sexual abuse at the age of 13 when he had been sent to study in a Jesuit college; the Jesuits denied that he was one of their students. In an October 2020 interview to the Corriere della Sera, Elkann described his mother, Margherita Agnelli de Pahlen, as struggling with self-harm and accused her of destroying the family, having it split in two. Into the 2020s, the de Pahlens remain involved in a dispute with the Elkanns over Gianni Agnelli's inheritance. The lawsuit proceedings started in November 2022.

Elkann said he is not interested in politics and that it is not his job. In October 2019, he was involved in a diatribe with Matteo Salvini, who had mocked him by referring his past drug abuse. Elkann criticized Salvini's anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric. He said: "I am in favour of NGOs that help people at sea. I also find it quite shameful that none of the institutions were present in Lampedusa due to the tragedy of migrants that has taken place – as an Italian it makes me sad.... I don't like the word migrants, it seems to me disparaging and not respectful. I like the word new Italians. I don't like Salvini, I don't like his behavior on the issue of migrants because I consider it dissolutive and not constructive." About the role of Europe, he said: "Italy is the country that has the largest number of people arriving from various areas of the world where there are wars, suffering, and pain. We are the first to receive them, and Sicily is the area that receives the most. Europe must help and support Italy more."

In October 2005, Elkann was found unconscious and naked in the apartment of Donato Broco, who was described as a 53-year-old transgender prostitute known as Patrizia. He was brought to the hospital, where he was in a coma for three days. Police investigated him at the time for cocaine use and soliciting prostitution. The Italian photographer Fabrizio Corona attempted to blackmail the Agnelli family for compromising information against Elkann. Marco Durante, head of LaPresse, an international photographic agency, was hired by the Agnelli family to negotiate with Corona and manage the situation.

In early December 2014, as reported by Il Giorno, Elkann was secretly filmed during a party with two brothers who allegedly blackmailed him in exchange for silence. The two blackmailers were arrested and Elkann's lawyer contested the derogatory statements against his client.

On 27 November 2016, as reported by the New York Daily News, The Daily Beast, and The Hollywood Reporter, Elkann was arrested in New York City, after a drug and sex party in Manhattan, for making a false police report claiming that he had been unlawfully imprisoned. After having run out of money available to him, he contacted his family; according to what a United States official told the Associated Press, Elkann stated that he would be harmed if they did not pay a $10,000 ransom. He was accompanied by a transsexual escort who was also arrested, and Elkann later confessed that he made up the story. Charges against Elkann and the escort were later dropped.

On 12 September 2020, Elkann was stopped twice by the police. The first case was due to speeding in a Ferrari, while the second time he was found in possession of three to four grams of cocaine.