Anne's ex pleas for leniency
2008-10-15 10:02
New York - An Italian businessman who dated actress Anne Hathaway cheated investors in a scam involving Roman Catholic church property so he could keep pace with his jet-set friends, his lawyer told a judge on Tuesday.
In court papers, the attorney argued that Raffaello Follieri should be sentenced to three years in prison, rather than the minimum of four years and three months to which he agreed when he pleaded guilty.
Follieri, 30, is scheduled for sentencing on October 23. He pleaded guilty in US District Court in Manhattan last month to wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy, effectively ending a glamorous life that allowed him to travel extensively with Hathaway.
He dated the Get Smart star for four years until shortly before his arrest in June.
Lawyer Flora Edwards said Follieri grew up in a small city in southern Italy and was unprepared for the pressures that awaited him after he established himself in the United States, at 24, as a successful international entrepreneur befriended by the rich and famous.
Became intoxicated with celebrity lifestyle
"He was surrounded by movie stars and celebrities, and this young man who neither drinks nor smokes became intoxicated with it all," she wrote.
"Unfortunately, he lacked the resources to maintain the opulent lifestyle of his new friends. Even more unfortunately, he had almost unfettered access to hundreds of thousands of dollars with few controls on his spending ability, until it was too late," Edwards said. "Soon he succumbed to the temptation."
She said it resulted in "a colossal error in judgment which has had a devastating impact on Raffaello and those around him."
The lawyer disputed a probation department estimate that Follieri caused as many as 15 individuals or entities more than $12m in losses - more than five times the amount he acknowledged in his plea deal with prosecutors.
Rebekah Carmichael, a spokesperson for federal prosecutors, declined to comment.
Ties to the Catholic Church
Citing 100 letters written to the judge on Follieri's behalf and his mother's deteriorating health, Edwards called for leniency. She said her client had done many good deeds before he disgraced his family, caused pain to loved ones and "embarrassed the church he loves".
She also said Follieri had deep and long-standing ties to the Catholic Church when his family created a business entity to help the church sell properties it no longer needed, so they could be renovated and made useful again for their communities.
She included photographs of Follieri in an audience with Pope John II at the Vatican and pictures of Follieri with cardinals in the US.
Prosecutors have said Follieri posed as the Vatican's representative to the US. He led investors to think he could buy church properties at a steep discount, then siphoned off at least $2.4m of his backers' money for his personal use, prosecutors said.
Edwards said Follieri, after he serves his sentence, will be transferred to a detention facility with even harsher conditions than prison until he is deported to Italy.
"To say his hopes and dreams of building a thriving business in the United States has been a disaster is an understatement. There is no danger he will ever return to this country," she said.
- AP