Large Canadian dairy company Saputo has instituted legal actions for defamation jointly with president and CEO Lino Saputo against a number of Canadian newspapers and the Italian weekly L’Espresso.

The company says that, contrary to suggestions in the Canadian newspapers, that Lino Saputo is not and has never been under investigation by the Italian police and has never been named in the complaints record of the Italian authorities.
The newspaper reports, apparently based on legal proceedings in Italy in which an individual has admitted using the name Saputo in order to imply that the corporations under his control, Made in Italy Spa and Made in Italy Inc., would be acquired by Lino Saputo, though there has never been any contact between the two parties.
The proceedings filed against the Canadian newspapers and are blaming them for having acted recklessly and in bad faith by publishing information they knew or ought to have known false and slanderous.