John Elkann, heir to the Agnelli dynasty and chairman of Stellantis and Ferrari, has once again demonstrated how the powerful maneuver within systems designed to shield them. To end a criminal investigation into alleged tax fraud tied to the inheritance of his grandmother, Marella Caracciolo, Elkann and his siblings will hand over €183 million—loose change measured against an estate estimated at €800 million—and Elkann himself will perform a year of community service.

The bargain, blessed by prosecutors and awaiting a judge’s rubber stamp, carries no admission of guilt. It is the ritual absolution granted to elites, unavailable to ordinary citizens. Behind the legal technicalities lies the decay of one of Italy’s most storied dynasties.

The Agnellis, once synonymous with national industrial might through Fiat, now wage internecine wars over vast pools of inherited wealth. Elkann’s mother, Margherita, is locked in civil litigation against her children, seeking to claw back a portion of the billions that were parcelled out in secretive agreements two decades ago.

It is a grotesque spectacle of privilege, a family devouring itself over the spoils of empire, while the society that once depended on their factories lies hollowed out. This settlement, like so many before it, underscores the impunity of oligarchs.

They do not face justice as the poor do. They buy it, package it, and parade it as accountability, even as they retreat behind their walls of capital. The Elkann affair is not merely about taxes. It is about the moral bankruptcy of a ruling class that long ago abandoned the workers whose sweat built their fortune.