In September 2020, Alexandra Gucci Zarini, granddaughter of Gucci patriarch Aldo Gucci, filed a civil lawsuit accusing her stepfather, Joseph Ruffalo, of sexually abusing her for approximately 16 years, beginning when she was six and continuing until she was 22. Zarini further alleged that her mother, Patricia Gucci, and grandmother, Bruna Palombo, knew about the abuse and threatened to disinherit her if she spoke publicly. She claimed that Ruffalo had leverage over her mother and suggested that Patricia's fear of the legal and financial ruin associated with Aldo Gucci's earlier tax-evasion conviction influenced her decision to remain silent. The case transformed a celebrated luxury dynasty's private mythology into an account of alleged coercion, family control, and the use of inheritance as a weapon against a vulnerable heir.
Zarini also filed complaints with law-enforcement agencies in Beverly Hills, Riverside County, England's Thames Valley region, and the FBI. The criminal inquiries were described in the source as ongoing, while her civil case proceeded in Los Angeles. In September 2025, a jury reportedly found Ruffalo liable for sexual abuse and emotional distress and awarded Zarini $115 million in damages; charges against Patricia Gucci were dropped shortly before trial. Zarini said she would donate any recovered award to organizations protecting children from sexual abuse. The case became the central moral context for her later child-protection advocacy, the Alexandra Gucci Children's Foundation, and AGCF's stated commitment to directing part of its profits toward children's welfare.
