Nicola Borrelli, the longtime head of the film department at Italy’s Ministry of Culture, has resigned amid an escalating scandal involving a $1 million tax credit awarded to a film that was never produced, for a producer now accused of a double murder.
Borrelli stepped down late Wednesday, just days after Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli personally escorted law enforcement officials into the ministry’s offices to seize documents related to the case. The scandal centers on Stelle della Notte, a feature film project that received €863,595 (circa $1 million) in production tax credits in 2020 through a program overseen by Borrelli’s department. Despite the funding, the film was never made.
The application for the tax credit was submitted by Tintagel Films, a company fronted by 46-year-old U.S. citizen Charles Francis Kaufmann, who operated under the alias Rexal Ford. Tintagel Films partnered with the Italian company Coevolutions, which had control of the funds, disbursed in November 2023.
Kaufmann was arrested last month on the Greek island of Skiathos in a joint operation involving Italian, Greek, and U.S. authorities. He is accused of the double murder of his partner Anastasia Trofimova and their infant daughter Andromeda, whose bodies were discovered in Rome’s Villa Pamphili park. Kaufmann, who denies the charges, is currently awaiting extradition to Italy.
Italian news outlet Open revealed that Coevolutions has obtained roughly €4 million ($4.7 million) in tax credits for 13 films in recent years, only one of which has been completed. The Ministry of Culture has not indicated whether the Stelle della Notte funds were misappropriated or granted under misleading pretenses, but officials have launched an internal review of the procedures used to approve the credit.
During a parliamentary session on Wednesday, Minister Giuli announced stricter oversight measures for Italy’s tax credit system, stating that recent regulatory reforms should prevent similar abuses. He also emphasized that any financial misconduct uncovered in the investigation would carry consequences.
Borrelli, who had led the film department since 2009, defended the legitimacy of the documentation submitted for Stelle della Notte, noting that he had repeatedly called for tighter regulations on tax credit approvals. In recent years, he submitted several formal reports to the judiciary and financial police regarding the risks of fraud within the existing system.
While the scandal has intensified scrutiny of incentives for local productions, the 40 percent tax rebate program for international film and television shoots in Italy remains unaffected. Borrelli, speaking in May at a panel in Cannes, had touted the country’s incentive for foreign productions as one of the most accessible in Europe, highlighting that 70 percent of the credit could be utilized during filming.
Current international projects shooting in Italy include Maserati: The Brothers, directed by Bobby Moresco and starring Al Pacino, Anthony Hopkins, and Jessica Alba; Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars featuring Jacob Elordi and Josh Brolin; and Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints. Mel Gibson’s The Resurrection of the Christ is scheduled to begin filming at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios in August.
The Ministry of Culture has not yet named a successor to Borrelli. The investigation into the tax credit disbursement and the circumstances surrounding Kaufmann’s arrest is ongoing.
