Ferrari chief has lawsuit thrown out over $1billion family feud

Ferrari

Ferrari chief has lawsuit thrown out over $1billion family feud

John Elkann is the chairman of Ferrari

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Saturday 11 April 2026 18:57

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A lawsuit from Ferrari executive chairman John Elkann and his siblings has been thrown out by a Swiss court.

Elkann is the CEO of Exor, the Agnelli family holding which owns the likes of Ferrari, Fiat, Juventus FC and Stellantis.

While he is not seen particularly regularly at F1 race weekends, Elkann does speak about the Ferrari F1 team from time to time, and caused controversy last year when he told Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to 'talk less'.

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Elkann is the Grandson of the late Gianni Agnelli, and has been leading the Agnelli family since 2004.

However, Elkann - alongside two of his siblings - recently brought a lawsuit against his mother regarding the inheritance of the Agnelli business dynasty.

John, Lapo and Ginevra Elkann allege that they should be the sole heirs of the inheritance, and that their mother Margherita Agnelli should remain to be excluded from the succession.

Margherita, meanwhile is seeking to overturn agreements she signed in 2004 that gave her 1.2 billion euros after her father Gianni Agnelli's death. She argues that she should have been given a fairer share of the inheritance.

The lawsuit from Elkann and his siblings, however, was thrown out by the Thun courts in Switzerland, with the three siblings ordered to pay their mother's legal costs of 816,000 Swiss francs ($1.04 million).

Elkann's lawyers have revealed that they are appealing the decision to the higher courts in the country in Bern.

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More court cases to come

While this particular lawsuit has been thrown out - at least before an appeal - it appears as though there are others that will rumble on.

Elkann's lawyers argue that this ruling has nothing to do with the 2004 agreement between Marella Caracciolo (Gianni's wife) and Margherita Agnelli - a key deal in setting the current ownership structure of Exor.

They will continue in their attempt to try and ensure that their mother remains off the line of succession, as per that agreement that was signed back in 2004.

Lawyers for Margherita Agnelli, however, welcomed the Thun court's decision, saying it ⁠was "likely to have significant implications for the proceedings currently under way, including the civil case in Turin as well as the criminal proceedings", referring to an investigation involving John Elkann about alleged tax fraud. He denies any wrongdoing.

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