{"id":2510,"date":"2008-06-25T00:02:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-25T00:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/06\/the-italian-job.html"},"modified":"2008-06-25T00:02:00","modified_gmt":"2008-06-25T00:02:00","slug":"the-italian-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/06\/the-italian-job.html","title":{"rendered":"The Italian job"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ordinarily, I’d say that any excuse to put Anne Hathaway’s picture on my blog is a good one. But there actually is<\/i> a good reason<\/a> for it: her ex-boyfriend is in big trouble, for claiming close connections to the Vatican: <\/p>\n

<\/a>Italian businessman Raffaello Follieri, who recently split from long-time girlfriend actress Anne Hathaway, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of operating a fraudulent real estate scheme that he claimed was linked to the Vatican.<\/p>\n

Follieri, 29, was charged with conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering, in a criminal complaint unsealed in Manhattan Federal Court on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The complaint contends Follieri got millions of dollars in investment money from a private equity firm based on his misrepresentations that he had close connections with the Vatican that enabled him to buy the Catholic Church\u2019s unwanted U.S. real estate properties at a discount. <\/p>\n

Instead, Follieri and others used the investors\u2019 money for expensive clothes and restaurant meals, a $37,000-a-month Manhattan apartment, dog-walking services and other personal expenditures including medical expenses for his girlfriend at the time, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

The \u201cGet Smart\u201d and \u201dThe Devil Wears Prada\u201d star who had dated Follieri for several years, split with him just a week ago, according to reports.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rest assured, dear readers: I’ll be watching this closely. Especially if it means having to post more pictures of Anne Hathaway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ordinarily, I’d say that any excuse to put Anne Hathaway’s picture on my blog is a good one. But there actually is a good reason for it: her ex-boyfriend is in big trouble, for claiming close connections to the Vatican: Italian businessman Raffaello Follieri, who recently split from long-time girlfriend actress Anne Hathaway, was arrested…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ripped-from-the-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Italian job - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/06\/the-italian-job.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Italian job - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ordinarily, I’d say that any excuse to put Anne Hathaway’s picture on my blog is a good one. 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