Convicted Italian drug trafficker Raffaele Imperiale became a major cocaine trafficker after moving to the Netherlands in the early 1990s. He briefly lived in Spain before moving to Dubai and “masquerading” as a real estate developer in the 2010s.
Soon, both Spain and Italy issued warrants and extradition requests for him. They went unanswered, but Imperiale did step down from his role as chairman of AA Real Estate Development, which he created in 2013 and used to build luxury villas in the emirate.
Imperiale and other investors owned 49 percent of AA Real Estate Developments through another firm. The 49 percent stake was then transferred to a different firm, which was managed by a man who had acted as his proxy in a previous real estate deal in Dubai, according to Imperiale’s statements to Italian prosecutors after he was arrested.
The remaining 51 percent of the shares in AA Real Estate Development were owned by a former manager in Dubai’s Land Department — until 2015. That year, a new shareholder took over the majority stake: Sheikh Marwan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, the son of Dubai’s longtime ruler.
But the former Land Department manager was not in the room to sign the agreement transferring the shares to the royal family member. For reasons that remain unclear, Imperiale signed on his behalf, according to the agreement obtained by OCCRP, IrpiMedia and RTL Nieuws.
It’s also unclear whether Al Maktoum knew Imperiale was a wanted drug trafficker when he signed the agreement.
Maktoum exited AA Real Estate Development in 2018, a year after the firm had completed construction of five luxury villas, which sold for a total of nearly $25 million. The firm’s license lapsed four years later, months after Imperiale was finally deported to Italy.
Imperiale is currently serving a more than 15-year sentence in an Italian prison. After his conviction, he became a witness for the Italian state, providing prosecutors with details about his drug business and associates.
