Briatore in Russian champagne scam

A group of Russians have scammed former F1 team boss Flavio Briatore to the tune of EUR 86,000.

According to the Unione Sarda newspaper, they got off a superyacht and entered Briatore’s ultra-expensive Billionaire club in Sardinia, charging 90 bottles of EUR 900 Cristal champagne to a Russian oligarch’s account.

Police are now searching for the group.

"We trust our clients and there are some who choose not to settle their bills until the end of the summer," Briatore’s spokeswoman Patrizia Spinelli told the Daily Telegraph.

"This was a very unfortunate exception."

Police investigator Giulio Brandanu told The Guardian: "We have seen people here skip out on drinks bills before, but never this much."