Raffaello Follieri was sentenced to four and a half years in prison in Manhattan federal court today. The Italian real-estate developer, who falsely claimed ties to the papacy to con investors like Ron Burkle and Bill Clinton into investing in a church-property venture, then repurposed said money to fund a jet-setting lifestyle with his movie-star girlfriend, Anne Hathaway, will serve his sentence in one of two decidedly unglamorous locations: Fort Dix, New Jersey, or Otisville, New York. According to People, Follieri was remorseful at his sentencing, where he addressed the crowd through an interpreter:
“What I did was wrong and there is no point in making excuses. … I will never be able to wash away the shame. … I just hope that someday those who have been hurt by my actions will forgive me.”
Guess he got the message.
Raffaello Follieri Sentenced to 4½ Years [People]
Earlier Intel’s Coverage of l’Affair Follieri