Italy’s Brunello Cucinelli Shares Tumble

(MENAFN) Shares of the prestigious Italian fashion brand Brunello Cucinelli faced their sharpest single-day decline in more than ten years this Thursday.

The drop came after a London-based short-selling firm alleged that the company continues to operate in Russia despite strict sanctions imposed by the European Union.

Due to the dramatic downturn, trading of Cucinelli's stock was temporarily halted on the Italian stock exchange for nearly four hours.

Once trading resumed, the stock closed with a loss exceeding 17%, finishing at $85.08, after briefly plummeting by as much as 20% earlier in the session, according to data from a news agency.

The accusations stemmed from short-seller Morpheus Research, which claimed that the company was guilty of “misleading shareholders” by continuing to operate stores in Moscow.

These actions, according to the firm, breach EU sanctions that have prohibited the export of luxury products valued above €300 to Russia since 2022.

Morpheus disclosed that over a three-month investigation, it “sent secret shoppers to some of Cucinelli’s Moscow stores in August and September 2025.”

These individuals “confirmed that the stores are open and selling multi-thousand-euro luxury goods.”

The report further stated that “the tags on many of these garments reveal that they had been manufactured in Italy in either 2024 or 2025,” well after the implementation of the EU's luxury goods embargo.

This recent report supports earlier accusations from hedge fund Pertento Partners, which asserted during the summer that three Cucinelli boutiques in Russia were offering items “at prices several times above the limits set by sanctions.”

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