Naples, the Pegaso "system" under scrutiny by the Prosecutor's Office: Iervolino under investigation

Naples – The alleged crime is conspiracy to award illegal academic qualifications and non-existent master's degrees. Former sales director Buonomo is implicated. University Minister Bernini is among the witnesses. Multiversity's new management team defends itself: "These are events of the past, we are the victims."

An alleged well-oiled mechanism to ensure the market success of online universities through the awarding of academic qualifications deemed illegal, training courses lacking entry requirements, and virtually nonexistent master's degrees. This is the hypothesis behind the major investigation by the Campania judiciary that is shaking up the online education industry and has forty people under investigation.

The prosecutor's office, as reported in the Naples edition of La Repubblica, has turned its attention to the past management of Pegaso University . In recent days, members of the Guardia di Finanza (Financial Police) have executed a series of warrants for local searches and seizures. Among the warrants signed by the magistrates are prominent figures: most notably Danilo Iervolino, a well-known entrepreneur and former founder of the online university, and Andrea Buonomo, former sales director of the Multiversity-Università Pegaso group, who served from 2022 until October 2025.

The pool of magistrates and the associative hypothesis

Coordinating the delicate investigation is a top-level investigative team, combining expertise from the Naples and Nola prosecutors' offices. The case is in the hands of Naples deputy prosecutors Henry John Woodcock and Vincenzo Piscitelli, magistrates with extensive experience in crimes against public administration and the economy, supported by Nola prosecutor Francesca Paola Colonna Romano.

The legal structure presented by investigators is serious: they allege the existence of a criminal conspiracy aimed at illicit market expansion. According to the prosecution's theory, still to be fully verified in the subsequent procedural phases, the academic network increased its user base by facilitating the attainment of degrees by candidates who did not meet the legal requirements, thus circumventing strict ministerial regulations.

Corporate involvement and the hearing of Minister Bernini

The investigation does not limit itself to individual criminal liability. The Multiversity group (which includes Pegaso University) has also been placed under investigation pursuant to Legislative Decree 231 of 2001. The organization is accused of negligent omission: the Prosecutor's Office essentially alleges that the company's organizational models were not sufficiently effective to prevent the alleged crimes committed by individuals connected to the university.

As part of this comprehensive investigation, the magistrates deemed it necessary to gather evidence from institutional figures at the top of the Italian university system. In recent weeks, the Minister of Universities and Research, Anna Maria Bernini, was interviewed as a witness (i.e., as a person informed of the facts and not under investigation). The details of the hearing remain classified for now, but the interview demonstrates the Prosecutor's Office's determination to clarify every regulatory and inspection aspect related to the group's activities.

The defense's response: "The facts are limited, we are the injured party."

While the defendants will have the opportunity to respond to the charges and present their defense briefs in the next stages of the proceedings, Pegaso's current governance has already drawn a clear line of demarcation from the past.

Sources close to the online university specify that the conduct at the center of the judicial investigations dates back several years and is strictly limited to specific and isolated academic areas. Furthermore, the university strongly asserts its role as the injured party in the investigation.

It was the new management of Pegaso that, in a timely manner, filed a formal complaint with the judicial authorities against several former employees, who were subsequently removed from the facility. Finally, Multiversity reiterated its full confidence in the judiciary and its continued transparent collaboration with investigators, emphasizing the institution's ongoing and rigorous adherence to compliance, institutional integrity, and academic quality.