Andrea Pignataro, 55, chairman of the ION Group, is the second richest man in Italy, after Giovanni Ferrero and before Giorgio Armani. Forbes estimates his personal wealth at $25.5 billion. Yet for many he is a complete stranger. Very few photos of him circulate. Rare are his public appearances. A super-rich man who has chosen to live in the shadows but has not been able to escape the Italian tax authorities who have charged him with half a billion in tax evasion for the decade 2013-2023. A bill that with penalties and interest ballooned to $1.2 billion. It all allegedly stemmed from an assessment by the Finance Department that challenged his tax residence in Italy for those 10 years, while his lawyers have always reiterated that Pignataro lived permanently first in London and then in Switzerland. Be that as it may, the entrepreneur has now decided to put an end to the dispute with the IRS by accepting a settlement for 280 million euros, to be paid over five years. Pignataro had worked on Wall Street for Salomon Brothers. In 1997 he created ION Group, which over the years became a leader in financial trading software.