Lapo Elkann was arrested and charged with falsely reporting an incident in New York after media reported he was suspected of faking his own kidnapping.

A police spokesman stated there was an investigation into an “unlawful imprisonment” which turned out to be false and that Elkann, had already been released following the charge, though the matter was now in court.

Over the weekend, unidentified police sources reported that Elkan was suspected of faking his own kidnapping after running out of cash during a Thanksgiving bash in New York, as reported by Autonews.

Elkan, 39, is also the brother of FCA chairman John Elkann and heir to Italy’s biggest industrial dynasty. He’s also known to have nearly died of a drug overdose back in 2005.

At the moment, neither his publicist nor the Agnelli family’s investment holding company Exor had any comments on the matter.

Photo: Lapo Elkann/Facebook