‘The Enron of Italy’ settles U.S. suit

TEXT OF STORY

Scott Jagow: It’s been five years now since the food company Parmalat went bankrupt. People called it the Enron of Italy. Investors in the U.S. and Europe lost billions. Like Enron, the aftermath of this collapse seems to have no end in sight. Megan Williams has more from Rome.

Megan Williams: One thing there’s no shortage of in the Parmalat clean-up is lawsuits. Just days ago, Parmalat settled class action claims against it in the U.S., shelling out more than $37 million in shares. Now the dairy giant is suing Citigroup for pushing it toward bankruptcy by helping corrupt insiders steal from the company. Citigroup is just one of dozens of banks the new Parmalat head, Enrico Bondi, is going after. Financial and political activist Beppe Grillo says the chances of getting the banks to pay up is slim.

Beppe Grillo speaks in Italian.

Eighteen billion euros is still missing and nobody, not even Bondi who’s a great administrator, knows where it is, says Grillo. That’s $27 billion. So far, Parmalat’s recouped a mere $2 billion through lawsuits.

In Rome, I’m Megan Williams for Marketplace.