Fiat Heir Allegedly Faked His Own Kidnapping to Pay for Thanksgiving Weekend Drug Binge
Fiat heir Lapo Elkann, 39, allegedly faked his own kidnapping during a Thanksgiving weekend bender in order to get ransom money to pay for the drug binge. Elkann, the grandson of the late Fiat Automobiles patriarch Gianni Agnelli, was taken into custody by the NYPD and charged for falsely reporting the incident.
The New York Daily News claims that Elkan, the brother of FCA Chairman John Elkann, spent most of the holiday in a Manhattan housing project enjoying a multi-day drug marathon. The Italian heir flew into New York on Thursday and reportedly called a number of escort services in the city before settling upon a 29-year-old transgender woman who had contacts to get marijuana and cocaine.
According to sources, the escort paid for additional drugs, and Elkann agreed to pay her back. The cash-strapped millionaire then attempted to get his hands on $10,000 by allegedly contacting his family, claiming he had been kidnapped by the escort. A family representative contacted local authorities and arranged a meeting for the exchange. However, when both Elkann and the escort appeared at the drop-off location, police brought them in for questioning.
An NYPD spokesperson said that Elkann eventually filed a report, leading to the arrest of 29-year-old Curtis McKinstry on a charge of grand larceny by extortion. Further investigation of the matter resulted in the charges against McKinstry being dropped. Police then charged Elkann with a misdemeanor for falsely reporting an incident.
A day before departing for New York, Elkann posted a video on his Instagram account in which he claims, “I’ll be seeing many interesting characters in the creative field and in the entrepreneurial field in the next few days.” He also posted during the weekend’s stay-in spree, including an interior shot of the Lamborghini Miura and a photo of Steve McQueen, where he wrote, “ Speed is Everything never Stop.”
Elkann had a highly publicized near-death overdose in 2005 in the Turin apartment of a transgender prostitute. However, recent pieces in Vanity Fair and Forbes covered how well he had bounced back, creating the Italia Independent sunglasses brand and his Independent Ideas advertising firm.
[Image: Lapo Elkann/ Instagram]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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I don't know that there's any good time to concoct a fake kidnapping story, but I'm for damn sure that when you're shacked up with hookers and wasted out of your head on drugs, it's a really bad time for it.
So thats why Fiat ranks near the uh, bottom of reliability and quality rankings.