This is an investigation about a reputation management company. Eliminaliawhich allegedly filed bogus GDPR complaints on behalf of customers so that Google only shows the results they want.
The investigation is based on the leak of thousands of files received by a French non-profit organization Forbidden Stories and passed on to OCCRP and other partners. The article alleges that Eliminalia filed false and sometimes fraudulent claims and used a variety of dubious tactics to silence criticism of its customers, intimidating journalists and spreading fake news.
Among the 1,400 clients who turned to the company to “wash” their reputation, IrpiMedia employees found dozens of people suspected or convicted of various crimes – from drug trafficking to fraud.
The reputation management industry was pioneered by two prominent entrepreneurs, Diego Sanchez and Enea Trevisan, driven by self-interest.
Sanchez founded Eliminalia, which OCCRP and IrpiMedia describe as a “reputational laundromat” for criminals.
In Spain, investigators suspect that Eliminalia’s secret owner is Jose Maria Il Pradosa notary convicted of sexually abusing the then-underage Sanchez.
Enea Trevisan, convicted of fictitious bankruptcy in 2015, was Sanchez’s partner in Italy until 2018, and then created his own reputation management agency, Ealixir.
He brought many Italian clients to Eliminalia, but then filed a lawsuit against Sanchez over brand ownership and practices to remove unwanted online search results. Trevisan also claimed that his company was listed on the Nasdaq, which was not true.
IrpiMedia wrote about other Italian partners of Eliminalia, whose data appeared in the leaked materials. These include ReputationUp and Digitallex, two reputation management agencies that emerged after Trevisan left Eliminalia.
According to the leaked data, the owners and managers of these companies were Eliminalia’s clients and only then became its business partners.
Andrea Baggio, CEO of ReputationUp, told IrpiMedia that the company “decided to terminate any relationship with Eliminalia as soon as we realized that their practices were not in line with our best practices.”
Due to the GDPR claim, for at least 24 hours, the query “Enea Trevisan” did not lead to any IrpiMedia article in Google News. At the bottom of the page, Google noted that “some search results may have been removed in accordance with European data protection law.”
The complaint was anonymous and IrpiMedia does not know who filed it. The journalists sent a request for comment to Trevisan and Google. They received no response, but on Friday afternoon the IrpiMedia article reappeared in search results.