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Sachi, we're both single women. Do you think it would be hard to beg a truly famous celebrity or movie star? Like to date one? How famous? Like won an Oscar recently famous or like... On the trajectory to win an Oscar. He's really famous. He's on magazines. People respect him. Yeah, sure. Yeah. You know what? I probably could. I'm not saying he'd be proud of it, but I could probably do it. Yes. Yes.
I think you could too, and not to discredit your abilities,
but I personally feel like it'd be extremely easy. Probably, yeah. Men are simple. Also, you and I have an overinflated sense of ego. Oh, I have absolutely no sense of what I actually am. That's true. I believe in you and we're going to make it happen. Thank you. I'm about to tell you the story of a man who scammed his way into dating a truly A-list star for years. I can't wait for you to listen to this. Oh, boy. Okay.
It's September 2006, and a group of photographers are anxiously gathered outside a step-and-repeat in midtown Manhattan. They're all looking to get the perfect shot when in walks Raffaello Follieri. He's a 28-year-old Italian real estate mogul, and he's handsome with olive skin, wavy brown hair, and full lips, often set in a disarming smile. Tonight, he's looking dapper in a double-breasted suit.
But the photographers aren't focused on him. They're focused on his famous girlfriend, Anne Hathaway. At this point, Anne is 23 years old and completely glowing in a flowy black pant and sleeveless white blouse.
She confidently follows Raffaello's lead, Passive Photographers. They're here for the second annual Clinton Global Initiative Conference. It's an event where global leaders gather to discuss the world's most pressing challenges and also where they promise to donate millions of dollars to charity. This year, attendees are set to include Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Warren Buffett, Richard Branson, and Raffaello.
During the event, former President Bill Clinton calls Raffaello to the stage in front of everyone. Bill wants to personally thank him for pledging to donate $50 million to his charity. The room erupts in applause, and no one is clapping harder than Anne.
As Raffaello shakes Bill's hand, he's overcome with pride. Three years earlier, Raffaello moved to New York completely broke with nothing but charisma and a business idea. And now he's being singled out for praise in a room full of some of the wealthiest, most influential people in the world. ♪
There's just one problem. Raffaello doesn't have $50 million. In fact, his charity doesn't have any money, Saatchi. Raffaello's living a lie. Turns out, fancy friends, private jets, and official-looking letters from the Vatican will only get you so far. From Wondery, I'm Sarah Hagee. And I'm Saatchi Cole. And this is Scamfluencers. Hello!
Today's scam is so gutsy. We've covered a lot of scammers who pretended to know famous people, but Raffaello was willing to name-check the freaking Pope. He used his supposed connections to the Catholic Church to con billionaire businessmen, A-list actors, and political powerhouses. In the name of the father, son, and the holy scam artist, I'm calling today's episode The Catholic Con Man. Legend.
In the early 2000s, several years before Raffaello glad hands Bill Clinton on stage, he visits New York City with his girlfriend, Italian actress Isabella Orsini.
Isabella's a stunning brunette with high cheekbones and piercing blue eyes. And on these trips, they go to dinner with a friend who also happens to be a trademark lawyer. Maybe they're at the high-end sushi restaurant Nobu, which, Sachi, I don't think you'll be surprised to hear is one of Raffaello's favorite restaurants. Raffaello is probably discussing the details of his and Isabella's budding cosmetics company, Beauty Planet. ♪
At this point, the business idea is a little nebulous, but it's almost like the product itself doesn't matter. What matters is making money, in part by cashing in on Isabella's glamorous image. Raffaello doesn't speak English well, but what he lacks in substance, he makes up for in charisma and passion. Raffaello's business idea is a little nebulous,
Raffaello has dreams of making it big in America as a powerful businessman. He's always admired Aristotle Onassis, who made his first million by 25. He thinks projecting the image of a successful businessman is the key to becoming one. So until he makes it big, he's going to play the part by using what little money he and his family do have for expensive dinners, nice clothes, and international travel.
New York City is a far cry from Foggia, where Raffaello was raised. It's a southern Italian city about a four-hour drive from Rome, and it's mostly known for its agriculture. To further his image, Raffaello tells people he comes from a long line of successful businessmen. But in reality, his mother is a math and science teacher, and his father, Pasquale, is an attorney and occasional journalist. ♪
Raffaello recently dropped out of the University of Rome. He tells people he needs to devote more time to his new business, Beauty Planet.
Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither are hugely successful companies. He goes around hyping Beauty Planet, probably telling everyone that it's going to be the next big thing in cosmetics. But the truth is, it's not. In 2002, just three years after launching the company, Raffaello throws in the towel. By this point, he's bounced more than $50,000 in checks, according to Vanity Fair. And it seems like Raffaello and Isabella have also called it quits.
But Raffaello doesn't let facts get in the way of perception. Instead, he reportedly tells people he sold Beauty Planet for $35 million and that he's moving on to the next business idea. And for that, he finds inspiration from an unlikely source, the Vatican. ♪
About a year after Beauty Planet goes bust, Raffaello's throwing a party in New York City to charm potential investors for his new business. He calls it the Fulieri Group. The event is being held at a bougie private social club called the University Club. According to Vanity Fair, Raffaello booked it with the help of his new attorney, Richard Ortoli.
Richard's a bald man in his 50s with a mischievous smile. They recently met when Richard helped Raffaello draw up incorporation papers. And Raffaello also charmed Richard into letting him stay in his guest room. You know, just until Raffaello gets his new business off the ground. He's going to become a real estate mogul by buying and flipping unused church properties. Around this time, the Catholic Church is dealing with a wave of child abuse lawsuits.
and handling all the legal fees and settlements has taken its toll. So they're looking to sell some of their properties in order to make some money. Rafael thinks he's in a unique position to buy their properties because he has a connection to the Vatican.
Okay, well, first of all, that's an incredible business idea to sell properties off of the backs of all these abused children. Interesting. I am curious what connections he has to the Vatican that's making this feasible. Raffaello is friendly with Andrea Sodano. He's in his 40s and he happens to be the nephew of Cardinal Sodano.
Now, being a cardinal's nephew may not seem like that big of a deal, but Cardinal Sodano is a cardinal secretary of state over the Holy See's government. Besides a pope, Cardinal Sodano is the church's most powerful official. And Pope John Paul II's health is failing, so Cardinal Sodano has been making decisions on his behalf. The cardinal and the Vatican have no involvement with Raffaello's business, but he isn't above implying that they do.
Raffaello works the room, and even though he's only 25, he charms everyone. Plus, he's kind of cute.
Sachi, can you describe what he looks like? He looks like if you ran an iron over Zach Braff. He has that like wavy brown hair, impish Caucasian man on the cusp of being very rich is what it looks like to me. Yeah, he definitely has a look that many people would find charming. And he tells potential investors that he's a devout Catholic who goes to church every Sunday. He also says that he's a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who is a Catholic who
He also gives them the impression that he's in the unique position to buy church properties at a discounted rate. Raffaello's pitch is compelling, and the mere presence of so many powerful church officials reinforces his lofty talk. Richard, for one, is sold, and he becomes the first of many investors to hand Raffaello a big check.
After just a few months of gathering investors, Raffaello has raised around $400,000 and is off and running. Instead of using it to buy church properties, though, he spends the money on making himself look successful. He buys expensive clothes and borrows an investor's white Mercedes. And, Sachi, this is a completely unnecessary detail, but according to an Italian newspaper, it has bulletproof windows. Ha ha ha.
Things are going so well that within a few months, Raffaello has moved off of Richard's couch and into a penthouse in Trump Tower. Raffaello is doing everything to look like a successful businessman and fit in with the New York elite. But it's not until he wins the heart of a rising Hollywood star that he's catapulted into a world of fame and glamour unlike anything he could have imagined himself.
About two hours north of Manhattan in Poughkeepsie, New York, 21-year-old Anne Hathaway is a sophomore at Vassar. At this point, she's just starting to make it big. It's 2004, The Princess Diaries 2 is about to come out, and she's just landed her first big dramatic role in the highly anticipated movie Brokeback Mountain. Anne's career is really taking off, and she's looking for her love life to do the same—
In an art imitating life kind of way, her character in The Princess Diaries 2 says, I'm ready for a romantic fairy tale love. But at this exact moment, Anne is pissed and ready to give up on love. She recently agreed to go out with this hot Italian she met through a mutual friend, but he's late for their date. Like, really late.
I don't know where he asked her to meet, but knowing Raffaello, I'm imagining Anne fuming over a glass of wine at Cipriani. ♪
After an hour, Raffaello finally arrives. This is not very Princess Diaries one or two of Raffaello. I'm disappointed in him. Very disappointed. But over the course of the date, Anne softens. Raffaello charms her like he does everyone else. And a few days later, when he reportedly sends her a dozen red roses and an apology, she agrees to a second date. She later tells an interviewer that it was love at first sight.
And she even goes as far to say that he looks like a god. Raffaello and Anne become inseparable. It seems like Anne spends most of her time at Raffaello's penthouse apartment. She watches him interact with his father and other staffers as they discuss real estate, decide which church officials to contact, and what potential properties to bid on. A few months into dating, Raffaello takes Anne to Rome for an audience with Pope John Paul II.
Sachi, will you describe this picture from their trip? It appears to be a photo of Raffaello shaking the Pope's hand while Anne looks on, you know, her gaze cast downwards and she's wearing a black veil. It looks like a scene from The Godfather.
And if that's not enough, Raffaello takes Anne to the Bahamas for New Year's. He's pulling out all the stops to impress her, and it is working. Anne's head over heels in love. But Raffaello is spending more money than he's making. So he decides to find bigger investors. And what's bigger than the entourage of a former president? A few months later, an investor named Ron Burkle is sitting in a luxury hotel room in New York City.
Ron's in his early 50s with reddish-brown hair and a cleft chin. He grew up in Southern California and made his fortune buying and selling grocery chains like Ralph's and Food for Less. He runs a private investment firm called Yucaipa, and he's close friends with Bill Clinton, who serves as an advisor to the firm. He's joined by an Italian businessman who's interested in making a very large donation to the Clinton Foundation.
Ron's found himself in this meeting by chance. He's doing a favor for Bill, and Ron is initially skeptical of Raffaello. Like, who is this 26-year-old, and what could he possibly have to say?
But Ron is quickly won over by the charismatic Italian who lies and says he comes from a family of billionaires. He says they made their money in oil trading and diamond mining and are now investing in real estate. Raffaello tells Ron he's a CFO of the Vatican and that he has the option to buy church properties before anyone else. So basically, he's able to get real estate for a below market value and then can resell or develop them at a major profit.
To be clear, none of this is true. But Ron believes Raffaello and is immediately intrigued.
I feel like the statement, I am the CFO of the Vatican, is a very easily Google-able piece of information. I do guess that, you know, people were vouching for Raffaello. I mean, if Bill Clinton's like, meet this guy, then you're probably like, yeah. I mean, why would Bill set up a meeting with anyone who wasn't the CFO of the Vatican? Anyway, soon after the meeting, Ron and Raffaello start a joint real estate venture named Follieri Yucaipa Investments.
Ron proposes a three-year deal in which his firm will invest up to $105 million to buy church properties in America. $105 million is an insane amount of money, but Ron makes it clear that his team will have to approve which properties they buy and keep ownership of the real estate. Raffaello eagerly agrees to the terms, and Ron gives him an initial operating budget of $5 million over three years.
The money is supposed to get the company up and running, but Raffaello uses it to pay back old investors, fund his lavish lifestyle, and somehow make it look like he's actually the CFO of the Vatican. He's digging himself into a hole of biblical proportions, and things are about to move from sinful to criminal. ♪
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Just use the code SCAMPOD. That's happymammoth.com, M-A-M-M-O-T-H, with the code SCAMPOD to get 15% off your entire first order. In the summer of 2005, Raffaello walks into his new office on Park Avenue in New York.
It's only been a few months since forming his joint venture with Yucaipa, and Raffaello is already making himself at home in the new office. This layout is impressive with floor-to-ceiling windows, and Raffaello has added flourishes of his own. Upon entry, guests are reportedly greeted by his receptionist, a nun in a full habit.
Raffaello's really going over the top to make the space look like a legit place of business for a high-powered Vatican official. Raffaello reportedly even installs an altar in the office for visiting priests, and he allegedly keeps ecclesiastical garments on hand for the priests he works with. He wants them to appear more senior, and this is the quickest shortcut to making that happen.
Raffaello fills his office with photos of himself and Anne and a letter from the Vatican that he claims grants him permission to work on their behalf. It's written in Italian, so presumably he's the only one there who can read it. Oh, and while all of this is playing out, Raffaello's dealing with some family drama back in Italy. His father has been convicted of misappropriating more than $300,000 from a tourism company he'd been working with.
His father denies any wrongdoing, but Raffaello probably wants to help him out because around this time, he names his father president of the Follieri Group.
Raffaello is riding high until some of his early investors start asking him for their money back. Because until this point, he hasn't bought any church properties. They're just going to the highest bidder, and that isn't him. The only connection Raffaello seems to actually have is the ability to get investors private Vatican tours or audiences with the Pope.
who pretends these are arranged through his high rank at the Vatican. But really, Raffaello is secretly paying a corrupt Vatican administrator to arrange everything. He also hires bodyguards to follow him everywhere, and he alleges that people are threatening him because of his ties to the Vatican. I will say, like, if you're concerned about being physically attacked because of your ties to the Vatican when their sexual abuse scandal continues to rage on...
I don't know, maybe you should get punched in the face. I'm not against that. Yeah, well, another key piece to keeping up his Vatican image is tied to his friend Andrea, the nephew of Cardinal Sodano.
In exchange for these connections, Raffaello makes Andrea VP of the Yucaipa joint venture. But he doesn't stop there. He also lets him invoice for what they're calling engineering services. It's unclear what these services actually are, but Andrea is raking in up to six figures a month for them.
And in addition to paying off Andrea, Raffaello decides to pay himself even more money. He sets up several shell companies and pays them for consulting services that do not exist. And as if that isn't bad enough, he tells Yucaipa that he needs a boatload of money to open an office in Rome. Yucaipa agrees to pay, but Sachi, if you can believe it, Raffaello never actually opens an office. He just pockets the money.
Raffaello's scheming is impressive, but someone from the Vatican is about to realize how they fit into his con, and they are not happy about it.
About a year into Raffaello's joint venture with Yucaipa, he's relaxing in his new apartment in the Olympic Tower. There are white marble floors and modern furnishings, and it overlooks the historic St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. The apartment also comes with a butler, cleaning service, and personal chef. And the monthly rent? $60,000.
It's a drop in the bucket ever since Raffaello formed the partnership with Yucaipa. Plus, he justifies the rent by hosting Vatican dignitaries who are in town on business. He also uses his influx of cash to shower Anne with luxury vacations, private jets, yacht trips, and a lot of jewelry and watches. Sachi, a list of these items was later printed in a court document, and I need you to read what it says.
It says,
I mean, you can't just have one Rolex. Yeah, I mean, if you're going to get the gold one, you might as well get the silver one. And then if you're going to get the silver one, you need a silver chain with a cross pendant and blue and clear stones. Yeah, exactly. And actually, there are nine more pieces on that list, including a Louis Vuitton box. Also, by this point, Raffaello's finally managed to buy a few church properties, including two former churches in Philadelphia and a church in New York.
and some vacant land outside of Chicago. Nothing's been flipped yet, so there's no money coming in, but business is finally picking up. And just as it does, Raffaello gets a letter from Cardinal Sodano. Sachi, would you mind reading an excerpt from this letter? Yeah, it says...
Dear Mr. Raffaello Follieri, I feel it is my duty to tell you how perturbed I am to hear that your company continues to occasionally present itself as having ties to the Vatican due to the fact that my nephew, Andrea, has agreed on some occasions to provide you with professional consulting services.
I do not know how this distressing misunderstanding could have occurred, but it is necessary now to avoid such confusion in the future. I do, therefore, appeal to your sensibility to be careful with respect to this matter. Cordially, Angelo Cardinal Sodano. I would change my name if I got this letter. Well, even though the letter explicitly asks Raffaello to stop pretending he has connections to the Vatican, he acts like he never received it.
Instead, he decides to take the next logical step in looking like a successful businessman by starting a charity. A few months later, Anne and Raffaello are in Nicaragua in the town of San Marcos. Anne's new movie, The Devil Wears Prada, has just hit theaters and it's close to grossing $100 million.
They're not here to promote her film. They're here to vaccinate children against hepatitis A. Anne recently joined the board of Raffaello's new charity, the Follieri Foundation, and he set a goal to vaccinate 380,000 children in the next two years. On this trip, they're vaccinating just 1,000 kids, but maybe this is the start of Anne's Angelina Jolie era. Sachi, can you describe this publicity photo from their trip?
Sure. It is Anne Hathaway holding the tiny hands of a little brown baby in Nicaragua. And she's smiling beatifically at her. It's real white savior, I gotta say. It is. I mean, I vaccinated zero children, so I have no leg to stand on here. But the optics of this, she's one with the people. Yeah. Anne is all in on Raffaello and the foundation.
But what she doesn't know is the Follieri Foundation has no money and no ability to do anything past this one event. And even this event is being paid for with money Raffaello took from Yucaiba. But to Anne, Raffaello is saving the world. She later says in an interview that, quote,
One of the most untouted aphrodisiacs in the world is charity work. Seriously, you want a girl to be impressed? Vaccinate some kids. Build a house. I would like it on the record that I do not think charity work is an aphrodisiac. I think it's a great thing to do. I think everybody should do more of that. I'm not fucking anybody if he built a house. That's not enough.
I mean, it is very clear that whatever Anne is being presented with by Raffaello, she is extremely down bad. She's down real bad. Yeah. I mean, he's clearly extremely charming. But for a girl to say this on the record, like she's sure that he rules, you know? She really thinks he is swell.
Well, Raffaello's plan to use charity work to raise his profile is a huge success. Not only does he get praised for his generosity, it further promotes the idea that he and his company are a complete success. Just two months later, Bill Clinton is bringing Raffaello on stage to thank him for his efforts. Remember that event from the beginning of the episode, Sachi? I do. Well, Anne's beaming in a crowd that's all clapping in praise of Raffaello.
He's got everyone fooled. That is, until he hires someone who brings to light everything he's worked so hard to keep hidden. It's February 2007, and Carmela Santucci is sitting at her desk at the Follieri Group. At 37, she's a veteran of several hedge funds. And she's just been hired as the chief of staff for the Follieri Yucaipa Group.
Carmela was hesitant to take the job, but after hearing about all the high-profile people associated with the company, she decides to take the leap. Carmela doesn't know this, but she was hired by Raffaello to appease accountants at Yucaipa who have noticed some inconsistencies in their books. Unfortunately for him, Carmela is really good at her job, and after only 72 hours at the company, she knows something is up.
Reportedly, she's already concerned that Raffaello is delusional.
I am also concerned that Raffaello is delusional. Frankly, that doesn't seem like an unreasonable concern for her to have. Well, Carmela tries to stick it out, but after two weeks, she's at her wits end. She doesn't understand how the business is financially viable. Everything seems completely mismanaged and their expenses are totally unjustified. They've only bought a handful of properties, but none of these properties have flipped, so they're all just assets.
Plus, the company is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on engineering reports and consultations that don't seem to exist. And over the past two years, their operating budget was over $10 million. That's more than twice what was supposed to be spent over all three years of the joint venture. And even with all this money, some employees are still complaining about not getting paid on time or being owed massive amounts in back pay.
It makes no sense to her. It's interesting how it takes like an outsider sometimes in these stories to walk in and sort of look at everything and be like, hey, this does not make any sense. There's no logic here. Yeah, I mean, it really just took one normal person 72 hours to be like, wait a second, none of this is real. Yeah. Well, Carmela is ready to leave, but she's not going quietly. ♪
Instead, she sits at her computer and types a long, fiery email to Raffaello and CCs a bunch of execs. Her fingertips fly angrily over the keys. She's pissed anyone vouched for Raffaello when this company is clearly a disaster. She tells him how mismanaged everything is, then writes to Raffaello that, quote,
After clicking send, she stands up and loudly announces to the office, I quit. Carmela's email lands in Ron Burkle's mailbox, and what she reveals will crucify Raffaello's business with no hope of a resurrection. ♪
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When Ron Burkle first receives an email from Carmela, he's sure she's made a mistake. But her Jerry Maguire-level burst of indignation prompts him to take a deeper look. And what Ron and his team find is not good. Unlike Raffaello, Ron really is a legit, high-powered entrepreneur who knows how to run a business. And Raffaello's misuse of funds is beyond outrageous.
So aside from the luxury apartment, fake engineering reports, and misappropriating funds to his charity, Raffaello also spent company money on flowers, cosmetics, shopping trips to Barney's, Prada and Fendi, wine, expensive dinners, yacht rentals, dental care for his father, and medical care for Anne and his whole family. And my personal favorite is the high-end dog walker for Raffaello and Anne's brown Labrador, Esmeralda.
Yucaipa wants Raffaello to pay them back for everything. By their calculations, Raffaello owes them at least $1.3 million. But when Yucaipa execs lay out their demands to Raffaello, he denies everything. Raffaello emails Ron saying that the so-called violations are a simple result of a little money that needs to go back into the right pot.
Ah, yes, the old, I didn't lose $1.3 million. It's just a bookkeeping error. Yeah, it's nothing. I say that anytime I owe somebody $20. I mean, it's not, you know, sometimes it happens. Well, Ron doesn't think $1.3 million is a little amount of money. So a few weeks later, Yucaipa writes to Raffaello to tell him he's fired and the partnership is being dissolved.
And as wild as it sounds, Ron never hears back from Raffaello. About two weeks later, Ron and Yucaipa sue Raffaello and the Follieri group in Delaware court.
Yucaipa's lawsuit wouldn't normally get so much media attention, but when you add in the Clintons and Anne Hathaway, the press and tabloids can't get enough. The Wall Street Journal runs an article headlined, How Bill Clinton's Aid Facilitated a Messy Deal, and it's a complete disaster for the Clinton camp. It calls the Clintons' judgment into question on the heels of Hillary's highly anticipated presidential run.
But the damage is already done. Anne asks Raffaello to meet her at the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City. It's June 2008, and they've been on the rocks for months. Raffaello has fallen a long way from the charismatic businessman she fell in love with.
He's managed to pay Ron back, but he still owes tons of money to other investors and former employees. Meanwhile, Ann Starr has skyrocketed. Now she's outgrown a man who doesn't deserve her. So they meet for this final conversation and they officially break up. A four-year relationship over. God, she really put in the work. Four years?
The day after their split, Anne goes on The View because she's in the middle of a press tour for her new movie, Get Smart. When pushed to talk about herself, she says, My personality is very kind of, you know, I'm girlish, bubbly, silly, the whole thing. And not today. I'm kind of somber today. A few years later,
A few days after their breakup, Anne calls Raffaello from LA. He's in his parents' Trump Tower apartment where he's now living. And according to Vanity Fair, he asks Anne to come to his 30th birthday party on Capri. But Anne says nothing. She reportedly tells him that he was the love of her life and that she'll always love him. Raffaello claims it's the last time he and Anne ever speak.
And just six hours later, his life will be changed forever. The U.S. Attorney's Office has been watching him, and they're finally ready to make their move.
On the morning of June 24th, 2008, 15 federal agents enter Trump Tower and pull Raffaello from his bed at his parents' apartment. They handcuff him and bring him down to the federal courthouse. He's charged with five counts of money laundering, eight counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He's held on a $21 million bail.
Raffaello can't pay it, so he's transferred to Metropolitan Correctional Center awaiting trial. He literally goes from a penthouse to a tiny shared concrete cell. The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York has been investigating Raffaello for months. They even collected Anne's diaries as evidence. It's unclear whether she'd been working with the authorities to nab him.
And on top of what was unearthed in the Yucaipa lawsuit, the U.S. Attorney's Office discovered all of Raffaello's shell companies and his fake Italian office. They estimate the associated losses to be well over $12 million. And, Zachi, one of the slimiest revelations from the court documents is that Raffaello scammed $28,000 from a priest who was working with orphans in the Philippines.
You know, one day you're running the Vatican and the next day you're ripping off a priest who works with orphans in the Philippines. Life comes at you fast. I know it's like crazy how he fooled people thinking back to Anne Hathaway's comments about like, there's nothing sexier than a guy who helps people. And you're like,
Yeah. He was scamming orphans, babe. I mean, yeah, you got to watch out for people who are a little too helpful, I find. Well, three months after his arrest, Raffaello pleads guilty. Anne is busy promoting her new movie, Rachel Getting Married, which means she's getting a lot of questions about her ex, including from David Letterman, who grills her relentlessly. How long did you know the guy?
How long? We dated for four years. Four years. And was there ever like, you know, stuff missing out of your purse? I love David Letterman. He's a really big jerk, but it is a little funny. I shouldn't laugh. I mean, she handles it well, if you ask me. I think so. Yeah.
Well, Sachi, in October 2008, Raffaello's sentenced to 54 months in prison. He also has to forfeit almost $2.5 million to the U.S. government. Remember that list of jewelry gifted to Anne? Well, she has to give it all back to help pay what he owes. It's like throwing salt on a wound. But Anne, still in the throes of her publicity tour, decides to laugh it off on SNL.
At his sentencing, Raffaello tries to explain himself.
Sachi, can you read what he says? Yeah. He tells the judge, quote, I didn't start off with the intention of deceiving anyone. I started off with good intentions to run an honorable business and make everyone proud of me. I have dishonored my family name and the church I love. I will never be able to wash away that stain and I will have to live with it for the rest of my life. I mean, he started off with the intentions to be a fraud. He
He was lying from the beginning, it seems like. So this doesn't really feel accurate at all. Well, in 2012, after three and a half years, Raffaello is released from prison and deported back to Rome.
Today, as you know, Anne's fame has reached superstar heights. She has a husband, two kids, and an Oscar. Raffaello's other ex-girlfriend, Isabella Orsini, is also living her best life. In 2009, she married a Belgian prince and is now a princess. Raffaello's
Raffaello lives in London with his family and runs a new business venture called Follieri Energy. It's a petrol energy company. He says he hasn't heard from Anne in 14 years, and he no longer goes to church every Sunday.
Sachi, this story had a lot. It is really intense and also insane just because he was able to reach this level of access. Like, I feel like out of a lot of the scammers we've talked about who've done whatever financial fraud kind of things, he had a lot of access.
the most legitimacy. Like he had freaking Bill Clinton on his side. Yeah, I mean, it's another example of a scam that could have been pulled off if the lies were not so audacious and the financial crimes weren't so evil. He could still be living a very comfortable life. He might still be with Anne Hathaway, which would be bad for everybody, including Anne Hathaway. So I guess I'm grateful, but it is a really bombastic scam. It happened so recently. Yes.
his scam was lying about the Vatican and flipping properties. And to me, it's pretty funny that he got away with it for as long as he did in such a big way, because it's just another case of, I mean, particularly Americans being like, don't understand it, won't question it, seems legit, Italian accent. Here's a question. Do you think Anne understood any portion of his scam? Or do you think she really was like, what the fuck is going on here? And
And now thinks about their relationship and is so perplexed. I don't think she really knew or was involved. And I think she was really just like a girl in her early 20s who was like, oh, this relatively handsome Italian man is sweeping me off my feet. And he's so sophisticated and this and this and this. Yeah. I mean, also Anne Hathaway did grow up Catholic. So there's that. Yeah.
I don't think she knew. And I think it's probably very likely that she just...
She didn't see it. I bet people around her saw it. Yeah, I mean, would he have kept going somehow if he wasn't caught? Probably. You know, sooner or later, people would have realized, like, this guy isn't actually flipping any property. His ties to the Vatican are very loose. Like, would he have pivoted to a new type of scam? Be like, I've left the Vatican. I'm doing this now. Like, I just don't know what his endgame was. I think so. And I think he would have kept trying to date famous people.
Well, I think the lesson here is if anyone is charitable and they're putting it in your face and letting you know how altruistic and good they are, they are lying to you.
No one who's actually doing good in this world will make it their personality. Yeah. I think it is good to think of the difference between doing good and seeming good. Yes. And we often have stories of scam artists who want to seem good and they don't actually do any good. So if you're out there in the world and you're dating and you meet a guy and he says that he works in philanthropy, you got to check, does he do good or does he just want to seem good?
This is The Catholic Con Man. I'm Sarah Hagee. And I'm Sachi Cole. If you have a tip for us on a story that you think we should cover, please email us at scamfluencersatwondery.com. We use many sources in our research. A few that were particularly helpful were The Follieri Charade by Michael Schneerson and Vanity Fair.
John R. M. Schwiller's reporting for The Wall Street Journal and Claudio Gatti's reporting for the Italian financial newspaper Il Sole Venti Quattro Ore. Rachel Borders wrote this episode. Additional writing by us, Sachi Cole and Sarah Hagee. Our senior producer is Jen Swan. Our producer is John Reed.
Our associate producers are Charlotte Miller and Lexi Peary. Our story editor and producer is Sarah Enney. Our story editor is Allison Weintraub. Sound design by James Morgan. Fact-checking by Anna Pujol-Mazzini. Additional audio assistance provided by Adrian Tapia. Our music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Freesound Sync. Our senior managing producer is Tanja Thigpen.
Our managing producer is Matt Gant. Olivia Richard and Kate Young are our series producers. Our senior story editor is Rachel B. Doyle. Our senior story producer is Ginny Bloom. Our executive producers are Janine Cornelow, Stephanie Jens, Jenny Lauer Beckman, and Marshall Louie for Wondery. Wondery.
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