Marzotto family members and their lawyers dispute that ICG was created to cut their tax bills.
Mr Ferragamo, who has reservations about flotation, sits on Marzotto's board and has a stake in the company.
The grouping of the shares fueled speculation that the Marzottos were actually going to sell Valentino Fashion Group outright rumors that Matteo Marzotto denied at the time.
Niccolo Ghedini, a lawyer for three of the Marzotto members, said the family also had received legal advice that they need not file an Italian tax return.
In a memo prepared for tax authorities while the investigation was continuing, Vittorio Marzotto wrote that the sale to Permira was an "unhoped for and unexpected" outcome.
Nuovo Pignone, a nearby loom maker that also supplies Marzotto, sold 70% of its output in 1997 in Asia (and itself is being bought by a Swiss competitor).
Prosecutors say they found a memo showing that in 2008, the Marzotto family members sought the advice of a tax lawyer, who advised them to file an Italian tax return on the sale, which they didn't do.
At the heart of the Valentino case is a Luxembourg holding company, called International Capital Group, or ICG, that was set up in 2006 by Marzotto family members to group the 29.6% combined stake they owned in VFG.
"The most delicate phases of the VFG affair" were conducted in lawyers' and bankers' offices in Milan and Rome or in the private homes in Italy of brothers Vittorio and Matteo Marzotto, according to a November asset-confiscation order reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Sperotto Rimar, Mr Fochi's firm, sprouted originally because of the sustaining presence in the region of Marzotto and Lanerossi, two textile firms that some 150 years ago found in the steep hills north of Vicenza fast-flowing streams to drive their looms, and sheep to provide wool.
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