Vatican City, Feb 22, 2017 / 16:34 pm
A banker who allegedly used the Vatican Bank and other aspects of Holy See finances to manipulate the market for his bank stock price continues to be under investigation, as Italian authorities froze millions of euros in his personal assets on Tuesday.
Giampietro Nattino, the head of Banca Finnat Euramerica SpA, allegedly used Vatican financial institutions as cover for "a complex stock operation which resulted in criminal behavior regarding market manipulation." Police said he used "misleading and false" methods to "substantially alter" the price of shares in his bank, Reuters reports.
The alleged manipulation used the Institute for Religious Works, known informally as the Vatican Bank, and APSA, which oversees Vatican real estate and investments. Vatican investigators suspect that during a stock placement handled by Nattino's bank, shares were bought through the accounts at APSA before the shares were allocated to other investors.
Nattino is also accused of providing false information to Italy's stock regulator, Consob.