ROME, 5 June 2020 – Vatican prosecutors charged Italian financier Gianluigi Torzi on Friday, in connection with a badly mismanaged real estate deal involving investment property located at 60 Sloane Avenue in London.
A statement late Friday evening from the press office of the Holy See said Torzi has been charged with various counts of extortion, embezzlement, aggravated fraud and money-laundering. Torzi faces up to twelve years in prison, if convicted.
Torzi reportedly made €10 million for acting as go-between when the Vatican attempted to extricate itself from an investment partnership by buying out its erstwhile partner in the Sloane Avenue property venture, Italian businessman Raffaele Mincione.