Anne Hathaway’s Ex-Boyfriend, Raffaello Follieri, Arrested On Fraud Charge

Here is more from the New York Daily News:

Raffaello Follieri faces federal charges that he fleeced investors of up to $6 million by posing as an agent of the Vatican so he could live in a posh Fifth Ave. pad and jet around the globe.

The 29-year-old Italian businessman, who was arrested Tuesday, angrily shook his head as prosecutors in Manhattan Federal Court accused him of money-laundering charges that could put him in jail for 20 years.

“He is a con man,” prosecutor Reed Brodsky told Federal Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman. “He was able to con a lot of people out of a lot of money over a long period of time.”

Follieri, a fixture at Hathaway’s side for more than three years, is accused of lying about his connections to the Vatican to dupe a business partner into buying properties from the Catholic Church. He was ordered held on $21 million bail.

The 18-page indictment charges Follieri boasted of meeting Pope Benedict and of being tapped as the Vatican’s No. 1 man on U.S. real estate deals.

It also says he used his unidentified investor’s money to hire a pair of monsignors who helped pump up his credentials as a church wheeler-dealer.

The indictment charges he even asked one of the monsignors to don the vestments of a more senior clergyman “to create the false impression that Follieri had close ties to the Vatican.”

Thank goodness Anne got away from him.  She was close to leaving him a year ago when he bounced his first $1,000,000 check, but he must have charmed her to stay.  Everyone warned her, but the good news is, she finally listened.

DISCLAIMER: This posting was submitted by a user of the site not from The Insider editorial staff. All users have acknowledged and agreed that the submission of their story and its contents is in compliance with our Terms of Use.