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Anne Hathaway's Ex Gets Four and a Half Years For Fraud
By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 23, 2008
Modified Oct 23, 2008
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By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 23, 2008
Modified Oct 23, 2008
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Raffaello Follieri, the 30-year-old Italian who pleaded guilty to cheating investors by claiming he had Vatican connections that enabled him to buy Catholic Church property for a song, was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison today. Speaking through an interpreter, Follieri—who had been seriously involved with actress Anne Hathaway until this most recent scandal—pleaded for leniency, telling the judge, "I have dishonored my family name. I have embarrassed the church I love. I can never wash away that stain, and I will have to live with what I have done." But the judge was unmoved by the apology and imposed the 54-month sentence requested by prosecutors. Hathaway has said she felt like "a rug was pulled out from under me" when Follieri was arrested, but his friends believe she cooperated with the feds to lure him back to New York from Europe for his arrest.
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Raffaello Follieri
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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