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CRIME

An Italian man posed as a prince to get free luxury holidays – and meet Pamela Anderson

Italian police said on Wednesday they had tracked down a man who posed as a Montenegrin prince in order to get free luxury holidays and meet influential figures.

Published: 14 June 2017 17:01 CEST
An Italian man posed as a prince to get free luxury holidays - and meet Pamela Anderson
A Montenegrin flag. Photo: gilmanshin/Depositphotos

In reality, the suspect was a 57-year-old from Trieste, but he assumed the identity of a Montenegrin prince – despite the fact Montenegro has not been a monarchy since the end of the First World War.

The disguises allowed the 'prince' not only to blag travel freebies, but to arrange meetings with leading businessmen and religious authorities, police said.

A search of his Turin home revealed fake diplomatic passes and documents, including the knighthoods and other honours he bestowed on many of those he met.

Even actress and animal rights campaigner Pamela Anderson fell for the fraud, and was named 'Imperial Countess' by the fake prince in June 2015.

The moment Pamela Anderson became an 'Imperial Countess'.

A Facebook page and website – which includes a disclaimer in which he sets out his perceived right to use the title – helped him boost his profile. On the website, he is pictured with Italian mayors, high-ranking cardinals, and even some of Monaco's royal family.

These figures were attracted by the prince's “granting of knighthoods and diplomatic passports (always false) and alleged economic cultural exchanges with Montenegro,” police said in a statement quoted in the Brindisi Report.

Prosecutors labelled the fraud a “pantomime”, but it was nothing if not thorough: the man reportedly hired an accomplice to act as his valet, and travelled in a Mercedes with diplomatic registration plates.

Police began the probe in August 2016 after the suspect was spotted in Puglia with a car bearing the insignia of the Republic of Montenegro. On that trip, he was able to enjoy a two-week stay in a luxury resort and had meetings with high profile figures from the worlds of business and politics.

Both the 'prince' and his valet were on Wednesday charged for false declaration of identity, and possession and manufacture of forged identity documents, Repubblica reported. 

 

 

 

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CRIME

Italy has most recovery fund fraud cases in EU, report finds

Italy is conducting more investigations into alleged fraud of funds from the EU post-Covid fund and has higher estimated losses than any other country, the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) said.

Published: 8 April 2024 17:05 CEST
Italy has most recovery fund fraud cases in EU, report finds

The EPPO reportedly placed Italy under special surveillance measures following findings that 179 out of a total of 206 investigations into alleged fraud of funds through the NextGenerationEU programme were in Italy, news agency Ansa reported.

Overall, Italy also had the highest amount of estimated damage to the EU budget related to active investigations into alleged fraud and financial wrongdoing of all types, the EPPO said in its annual report published on Friday.

The findings were published after a major international police investigation into fraud of EU recovery funds on Thursday, in which police seized 600 million euros’ worth of assets, including luxury villas and supercars, in northern Italy.

The European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, established to help countries bounce back from the economic blow dealt by the Covid pandemic, is worth more than 800 billion euros, financed in large part through common EU borrowing.

READ ALSO: ‘It would be a disaster’: Is Italy at risk of losing EU recovery funds?

Italy has been the largest beneficiary, awarded 194.4 billion euros through a combination of grants and loans – but there have long been warnings from law enforcement that Covid recovery funding would be targeted by organised crime groups.

2023 was reportedly the first year in which EU financial bodies had conducted audits into the use of funds under the NextGenerationEU program, of which the Recovery Fund is part.

The EPPO said that there were a total of 618 active investigations into alleged fraud cases in Italy at the end of 2023, worth 7.38 billion euros, including 5.22 billion euros from VAT fraud alone.

At the end of 2023, the EPPO had a total of 1,927 investigations open, with an overall estimated damage to the EU budget of 19.2 billion euros.

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