Jun 24, 2008 / 21:59 pm
An Italian businessman who claimed to have close connections with the Vatican in his appeals to real estate investors was arrested on Tuesday on charges of operating a fraudulent real estate scheme.
The 29-year-old Raffaello Follieri was charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering in a U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Reuters reports.
According to federal prosecutors and the FBI, Follieri is accused of misleading investors into believing he has close links with the Vatican that would enable him to buy the Catholic Church’s unwanted U.S. real estate at a discount.
Follieri and others allegedly used the investors’ money to buy expensive clothes and restaurant meals, a $37,000 per month Manhattan apartment, and other personal expenditures including medical expenses for his girlfriend at the time, whom authorities did not identify.