Francesco Maria D’Angelo is an Italian-qualified lawyer and a PhD candidate in Law for Innovation in the European Legal Space (curriculum: Tax Law) at the Universities of Udine and Trieste. He completed a research period abroad as a Visiting PhD Student at the University of Exeter under the supervision of Professor Dr. Costantino Grasso.

He is a member of the CRN41 Research Network on Economic Crime and Corporate Compliance.

His academic and professional work focuses on domestic and international tax law, as well as corporate criminal law, with particular emphasis on tax criminal law. His research examines tax abuses from both a criminal litigation and a preventive perspective, with a strong focus on corporate compliance and tax risk management.

He also investigates national and European tax penalty systems in light of recent Italian reforms and the evolving EU legal framework. Particular attention is devoted to the role of courts in safeguarding general legal principles — especially proportionality — and in balancing enforcement objectives with the protection of fundamental rights.

His work adopts a rights-based approach, interpreting tax and tax criminal law in light of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and EU law, with particular emphasis on due process, ne bis in idem, and the principle of legality. His research critically engages with the tension between effective tax enforcement and the protection of fundamental rights within the European legal order.