AI ODV's appeal against Banca Etica

AI ODV’s Press Release, 8 September 2026

We have filed an urgent application at the Court of Pisa to appeal against Banca Popolare Etica, based on art. § 700 of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure, asking the bank to immediately restore the functionality of our bank account operations.

On August 26 the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Autistici/Inventati to their list of Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs), based on Executive Order 13224. On September 1 Banca Etica proved to be incredibly eager to abide by the US sanctions, “temporarily” limiting the functionality of AI ODV’s account - thus making any kind of operation impossible -, without mentioning any regulation that bound them to do so or any time frame, and without asking the association for any documents. We are not facing any legal action in Italy, we are not designated by any U.N. or EU list, and we have not received any formal complaints. We are undergoing U.S. sanctions without any kind of hearing in a court of law, without any possibility to defend ourselves and without ever receiving a request to take down specific contents or to abide by laws that we may have been deemed to have infringed upon.

The Italian legal system does not include any law that requires a bank to freeze funds following a designation by the United States.

Banca Etica has informed us that they are carrying out “investigative inquiries” whose nature has been left unclear. On that same day, they declared in a public statement that until A/I’s designation, operations on our account had been ordinary and that we had a medium level Anti-Money Laundering profile, adding that the real reason of their decision was their fear of secondary sanctions on part of the U.S. The truth is that there is nothing to investigate. A bank that chose ethics as its mission has not only complied with an executive order by a foreign state spontaneously and without being bound to do so by any Italian or European law, but over-complied with the diktats by the self-appointed ruler of the world, even acting before September 25 - the end of the wind-down period allowed for by OFAC’s General License 36, which defines the kind of sanctions A/I has been subjected to.

We ask the Court of Pisa to fully restore the functionality of AI ODV’s bank account or, in the alternative, that the entire deposit be transferred to a different account of our choice.

If a designation established by a foreign administration without a hearing by a court of law and without any legal supervision is a sufficient condition to stop a European association from accessing its own funds, it becomes apparent that freedom of association is no longer guaranteed in its full scope, as the Italian Constitution requires it to be, and that its enforcement is no longer under the contro of the Italian legislators or judges.

In view of all this, the sole ethical duty we can imagine is the duty to resist this blatant violation of the rule of law.

AI ODV

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