Vatican Official Is Fined for Helping Swindler
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A federal judge fined a Vatican official $15,000 on Thursday but spared him prison time for his role in the insurance scam of disgraced financier Martin Frankel.
Msgr. Emilio Colagiovanni, 84, must pay the fine within 30 days and cannot leave the United States until he does, District Judge Ellen Bree Burns ruled in New Haven, Conn.
Colagiovanni pleaded guilty two years ago to charges that he falsely vouched for a bogus charity Frankel set up to hide his theft of $200 million from insurance companies in five states.
The priest, who publishes a periodical of canon law for the Roman Catholic Church, said he was “very sorry if anybody has been hurt of my doing.”
Colagiovanni could have been sentenced to five years in prison, but the judge said that was not appropriate because of Colagiovanni’s age and declining health.
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