Father accused of drowning daughter pleads not guilty in New York court
Luciano Frattolin, 45, set off a frantic search for his daughter, Melina Frattolin, earlier this month by reporting her missing just before they were due back in Montreal. He was arrested after investigators found holes in his story. He was indicted Tuesday on charges of murder and concealing a corpse.
Frattolin, wearing a gray suit coat and glasses, was sent back to jail without bail after a brief court appearance.
Frattolin called 911 on the night of July 19 and said his daughter went missing from a parking lot near Lake George, a resort town in the Adirondack region. He later told authorities that two men forced his daughter into a white van, according to New York State Police.
Officials issued an Amber Alert to enlist the help in finding the girl, but later noticed inconsistencies in Frattolin's account and concluded there was no abduction.
Authorities say searchers found the girl's body in the shallow water of a pond off a state highway. The body was concealed with a rock near a fallen tree, according to the indictment.
The girl lived in Montreal with her mother, who has been estranged for years from Luciano Frattolin, police said.
Authorities say Frattolin, who was born in Ethiopia, was living in Montreal. His lawyer said he had an Italian passport.
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Business of Fashion
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Montblanc contests the claims laid out in the case and is separately suing the union for defamation. The company said the manufacturing unit ended its relationship with Z Production after audits turned up persistent issues, including a case of unauthorised subcontracting. Any dismissals took place months after its contract with the supplier ended and its inspections uncovered no evidence of the kinds of labour abuses alleged by Sudd Cobas, it added. 'We categorically reject these unfounded and defamatory accusations,' Montblanc said in an emailed statement. 'The termination of the supply relationship with Z Production has, for months, been extensively exploited… based on numerous inaccuracies, falsehoods and conjectures.' The litigation is the latest move in a high-stakes debate over how much responsibility big brands should have for what happens in their supply chains. 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Labour rights advocates have pushed against this framing for decades, campaigning to bring more accountability to a system that they argue is deeply flawed and ultimately exists to boost the profits of big, multinational corporations. It's the constant pressure big brands place on manufacturers with much tighter margins to provide cheaper, faster, more flexible production that ultimately leads to cut corners and labour exploitation, they say. Brands use 'these subcontracting companies to save money on production,' said Francesca Ciuffi, an organiser with the Sudd Cobas union. 'They externalise everything.' Regulators have flip flopped on the issue. 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Steep prices and 'Made in Italy' labels are wielded as tools in this narrative, designed to signal to consumers that luxury products were made in tightly regulated labour markets by well-paid and highly skilled artisans. And previous scandals largely came and went, without damaging brands. But over the last 18 months, an ongoing investigation into labour exploitation in fashion workshops near Milan has exposed major issues at many of luxury's most established brands. Regional prosecutors have linked companies including Dior, Armani, Valentino and Loro Piana to local sweatshops. (The brands say that they are committed to upholding high ethical standards and the incidents don't reflect the way they operate). The scandal has proved reputationally bruising. And it's landed at a particularly unhelpful moment, when luxury's biggest players are already grappling with a downturn in consumer spending, linked in part to growing criticism of declining quality and rising prices playing out in viral posts on social media platforms. Still, the material impact has thus far been limited, While the court in Milan has been critical, arguing that luxury's links to sweatshops are the result of an entrenched operating model that ignores labour risks in order to maximise profits, sanctions against brands have focused on alleged failings in their monitoring systems and have not held them legally responsible for the way workers were treated at suppliers and subcontractors. Political efforts to address the issues have focused on developing certification programmes companies can use to prevent exposure to illicit actors. A new scheme in Milan aims to establish a database of 'good' suppliers, based on voluntary disclosures and participation. 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Montblanc said the case mischaracterises its manufacturing division's relationship with Z Production and that the six workers involved in the case were dismissed 18 months after the unit announced plans to terminate its contract, and 10 months after it stopped working with the supplier. Its decision to end the relationship was made after audits turned up 'persistent incidents of non-compliance' with the company's code of conduct, including unauthorised subcontracting, Montblanc said, adding that neither its own inspections, nor a third-party forensic audit conducted in early 2023 found evidence of working conditions like those alleged by Sudd Cobas. A judge in Florence's labour court consented to hear arguments in July. The next court date is set for December. Simone Stern Carbone contributed to this story.
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