A Milan prostitution ring investigation has widened to sweep in more than 60 professional footballers, all from Serie A clubs. Prosecutors are searching seized phones and devices for a list of player surnames drawn from multiple teams.
The agency at the center of the case, Ma.De. Milano, based in Cinisello Balsamo, was raided on Monday. Its owners, Emanuele Buttini and Deborah Ronchi — described in court documents as the “promoters and masters” of the operation — along with associates Alessio Salamone and Luan Fraga, are now under house arrest on charges of criminal association, exploitation, aiding and abetting prostitution, and self-laundering.
None of the players are under investigation. Attending such events is not a criminal offense under Italian law, and prosecutors have yet to establish how many of those named actually paid for sex or used nitrous oxide.
The operation was elaborate. Clients — wealthy businessmen, celebrities, and athletes — were treated to dinner at upscale Milan restaurants, then moved on to nightclubs or hotel rooms. The agency advertised on an Instagram page called “made_luxury_concierge,” targeting those willing to spend large sums for evenings that included women available for paid sex.
Venues named in the documents include Just Cavalli, Pineta Milano, Dolce & Gabbana Martini, and the Me Milan hotel in Piazza della Repubblica. The owners kept at least half of everything the women earned, paying them in cash envelopes based on services rendered.
Players from AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Verona, Torino, Lazio, Como, and Monza are among those named. According to Italian sports newspapers Corriere dello Sport and Tuttosport, the Milan prosecutor’s office — headed by Marcello Viola — included the players’ surnames as search keywords in its seizure order. The list was first published by Il Giornale and subsequently confirmed by ANSA. Other keywords in the same document include “Mykonos,” “balloons,” “party,” “percentage,” “sex,” “hotel,” “weekend,” and the names of venues.
In one exchange reported from the wiretaps by the Italian newspapers, Salamone is heard calculating how much money needed to be recovered over a weekend: “So 1,000 from… then 3,280… 3,420.” In another, a woman in a hotel room with a well-known Serie A footballer asks for balloons to be sent over. An organizer in a separate conversation discusses arranging a “paid girlfriend” for a Formula One driver. In perhaps the most striking exchange, a woman tells an associate she may be pregnant after an evening with a footballer, and asks him to retrieve their chat records to confirm the date.
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Several players have already moved publicly to distance themselves. The law firm representing Juventus striker Dušan Vlahović called the association of his name with the case “totally inappropriate and without any basis,” stating he is “in no way involved.” Arsenal and Italy defender Riccardo Calafiori’s attorney was equally direct, saying his client’s name “does not appear in any document of the investigation” and that he is “completely uninvolved.”
More than a hundred women — some very young, both Italian and foreign — worked for the agency, with some living at its Cinisello Balsamo offices. Bank records show more than €194,000 transferred to the agency, though investigators believe total revenues reached approximately €1.2 million.
The investigation is being built partly through witness interviews with the women involved. With dozens of phones still being analysed, the full picture of who attended, and what they did, has yet to emerge.
