Trouble In Little Italy
Although the incident happened last month on December 17th 2020, news has just recently become public regarding a scheduled FBI raid on Ducati’s North American headquarters.
The details are still hazy as to what business the FBI had at Ducati’s home-base, but another publication – Asphalt & Rubber – is reporting that sources are stating that the FBI also hit some of the houses belonging to high-ranking Ducati officials in relation to a financial investigation.
Back to the headquarters; the raid was reported (by a post on Bay Area Riders Forum) to be very quiet. There were only a handful of workers present at the facility due to COVID-19 concerns, so it wasn’t quite the type of raid you would see in a movie although that probably worked out in the FBI’s favor.
Road Racing World took the initiative to do their own deep dive into the matter, interviewing Katherine Zackel, an FBI spokesperson.
She said: “I can confirm that FBI San Francisco was at that location on December 17, 2020, to conduct court-authorized law enforcement activity
“As of today’s date, no public records are available. Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, I cannot comment further at this time.”
Ducati’s Marketing Director, Phil Read, came back with a statement of his own in relation to Zackel’s public words: “It is Ducati North America’s practice to cooperate fully with inquiries from government agencies…” “As part of that cooperation, Ducati North America does not comment on those inquiries.”
With such a large organization being under close scrutiny by the FBI it’s only a matter of time for more details to spill as the investigation progresses further.