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Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster)

October 15, 2023

Giovanni Di Stefano (born 1 July 1955) is an Italian businessman and convicted fraudster. He has been involved in legal cases for high-profile notorious defendants worldwide. He has no legal qualifications, is barred from working in law in the UK, and is not registered to work as an advocate in the UK or Italy.[1] He has been referred to as "The Devil's Advocate" for his advocacy on behalf of such notorious clients as Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milošević.[2][3] He was also a business associate of Željko Ražnatović, a Serbian paramilitary leader and indicted war criminal.[3][4]

Giovanni Di Stefano
12 June 2009
Born (1955-07-01) July 1, 1955 (age 68)

He has been convicted four times in Ireland and the United Kingdom of fraud and related criminal offences, serving a total of eight and a half years for convictions between 1975 and the late 1980s. He was described by a judge as "one of life's great swindlers".[5] His most recent conviction was in March 2013 when he was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment after being found guilty or pleading guilty to 27 charges including deception, fraud and money laundering between 2001 and 2011 related to "tricking people into thinking he was a bona fide legal professional".[5][6]

Life and career Edit

Di Stefano was born in Petrella Tifernina, near Campobasso, in southern Italy.[citation needed] When his father emigrated to the UK to work in a shoe factory, Giovanni and his mother later followed settling in Irchester, Northamptonshire when Giovanni was six years old.[2][7][8] He then went on to study at Wollaston Secondary Modern School[citation needed] and later spent one year at Wellingborough Grammar School (which later became Wrenn School).[7][dead link][9][10] In his 1986 fraud trial[11] and in his entry in Marquis Who's Who[12] he claimed that he had obtained a PhD in law from Cambridge University around this time, but this claim was later found to be without foundation.[11][12] In his 20s he claimed to have 'earned a fortune importing videotapes' from Hong Kong.[2][7] Despite living much of his early life in England, he considered himself an Italian.[13] During this time at school he was often called John, the English equivalent of Giovanni.[14][15][16]

Di Stefano lived in Britain until 1989. He then moved to several locations: Los Angeles between 1989 and 1992.[citation needed] In 1992 his bid to buy the MGM movie studios failed, and he fled to Yugoslavia because that country's breakup had made it a war zone and nobody would look for him there.[7] In Yugoslavia, he became a friend of its then-president Slobodan Milošević who granted him Yugoslav nationality with a Yugoslavian passport.[9] Additionally, he became a spokesman, a business partner, and a personal legal representative of the Serbian warlord Arkan.[3][4][17] He also served as general in the Serb Volunteer Guard (Arkan's Tigers), although he never fought.[18]: 2 [19] He stayed in Serbia until 1999;[citation needed] and later Italy from 1999 to 2011, while working in the UK as a lawyer. In 2011, he was arrested and extradited to the UK because he lacked the legal requisites necessary to work as a lawyer in the UK. In 2013, he was sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment in a UK prison.[20]

Legal career Edit

Di Stefano had an office in Rome, the Studio Legale Internazionale.[21] He is well documented, in the UK media, for defending "some of the country's most notorious villains".[2] He once commented that he would "...defend Adolf Hitler or Satan."[2] He says he "defends the indefensible",[13][17] and his autobiography is called Defending the Indefensible.[22] When asked about his motivation, he replied, "No one's ever asked, 'Does Satan have a case? Does he have a good case?'"[13]

The Scotsman described Di Stefano as a "colourful and often controversial lawyer";[23] The Guardian has called him "surely the only man in the world to claim the personal friendship of Saddam Hussein and the personal enmity of Delia Smith", after a failed bid to buy Norwich City F.C.[3]

Di Stefano used the Italian title "avvocato" ("advocate", analogous to an English lawyer) on his business card, and misled clients and the courts into believing that he was a qualified lawyer.[24] On 27 March 2013 he was convicted on 25 charges including deception, fraud and money laundering between 2001 and 2011 by a jury at Southwark Crown Court in London. During the trial he had told the court of his links to Robert Mugabe, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein (whom he described as a "nice guy") and his "friendship" with the daughter of Slobodan Milošević.[25]

He took up the avvocato title after a 2002 High Court ruling which allowed him to represent Nicholas van Hoogstraten in his manslaughter appeal.[citation needed][26] In evidence he admitted that he was not a qualified lawyer but that he only realised this "in hindsight" .

Di Stefano attracted clients after a BBC documentary entitled "Notorious" (see below); these included Paul Bush, jailed for life in 2003 for kidnapping and murder, whose wife paid £20,000 for legal services and, with others, £100,000 to di Stefano to secure bail for her husband – the money was received before the killer was told there was never any possibility of bail. Much of this £100,000 bail security was never returned, even after the appeal failed. Cocaine smuggler Laurent Penchef's parents paid di Stefano €10,000 in June 2005 for legal services, specifically CCRC and advice regarding repatriation to France; however, he was never given clear advice about how his 18-year jail sentence would be implemented in France, and no work was done taking his case to the CCRC . The money was sent to a bank in Rome by Penchef's parents, but prosecutor David Aaronberg QC said: "Mr Di Stefano did little or nothing to assist." "He was no more a qualified lawyer than he was a surgeon qualified to perform surgery or pilot qualified to fly an aeroplane", said Mr Aaronberg.[27]

Notable claims Edit

Notable people whom Giovanni Di Stefano has claimed to represent include:

In 2002, he managed to overturn a manslaughter conviction against Hoogstraten, getting him released from prison.[46]

In January 2004, Di Stefano again came to fame when he claimed in television interviews to be acting for serial killer Harold Shipman.[46] However, Shipman's lawyer said that Shipman had rejected Di Stefano's offer in May 2003, and that neither he nor any member of Shipman's family believed that Di Stefano was acting for Shipman.[21][29] This, and an incident in a 2004 trial of John Palmer, prompted an investigation into Di Stefano's qualifications as lawyer (see "personal legal history" section).[21][47][48]

On 17 March 2007, Di Stefano wrote to Lord Goldsmith (at that time the Attorney General for England and Wales) asking for leave to prosecute Judge Rauf Rashid Abd al-Rahman, who had sentenced Saddam Hussein, under the Geneva Conventions Act 1957.[49] On 14 January 2008, Di Stefano was reported as saying "Hurried justice is no justice", after a claimed UK client, who had won £1million in the National Lottery, failed to attend court as a witness in an assault case. Judge Christopher Elwen jailed her for 14 days anyway.[50]

In January 2007 Di Stefano asked the International Criminal Court to make a full investigation of the Al-Dujail trials of Saddam Hussein's half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Iraq's judiciary head Awad Hamed al-Bandar.[51] Di Stefano circulated a note handwritten by Barzan where he explains that he wasn't responsible for the killings at Dujail for which he was sentenced to death.[51]

In October 2007 he complained that the investigation of Blackwater's civilian deaths on Iraq was unjust because they were forced to operate in a climate and conditions that forced them to shoot first and ask questions later when they came under attack.[52]

Also in October 2007 he argued that Iraqi officials had to accept a pardon application for Ali Hassan al-Majid (Chemical Ali) because the 30-day execution window set the trial had passed.[53][54] The US military later refused to release Ali for his execution until the legal questions were answered.[55] Ali was sentenced to death again in February 2008 for different charges.[56] The execution was further delayed in December 2008 as a new trial was opened against him with further charges.[56] Ali was executed on 25 January 2010, fulfilling eight death sentences.[57]

In October 2007 Di Stefano asked the British Home Secretary for posthumous pardon of Hawley Harvey Crippen, who had been hanged for murder in 1910, on the basis of supposed new forensic evidence indicating that the body found was not that of his wife, and a letter from his wife that was sent after the date of the alleged murder and was never presented on the trial, and that he never murdered her.[58] The request was filed on behalf of the doctor's last living relative.[59]

On 15 January 2008 Di Stefano said that he knew of a sixth victim of Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley called Jennifer Tighe. He said he had a photo of her, and intended to speak to Brady to see if the killer would confess to this latest allegation.[citation needed] On 21 January 2008 Greater Manchester Police (GMP) issued a statement saying that Jennifer Tighe was in fact alive and that "Mr Di Stefano has previously made claims regarding the Moors murders in the media but has not provided any detail to Greater Manchester Police."[60] Di Stefano invited GMP to interview his client and to provide proper evidence that Tighe was still alive.[61]

Moors murderer Ian Brady had been force-fed at a top security hospital since he started a hunger strike in September 1999.[62] In September 2007, Brady applied via Di Stefano to be moved to a conventional jail where he intended to starve himself to death.[43] Later, in November 2008, when Brady was still being force-fed, Giovanni accused the state of legally starving Brady to death by not giving him enough food.[citation needed] In 2009–2010 Di Stefano made appeals to move him to a Scottish prison so he can die there, a move that the Scottish government strongly opposed.[63][64]

In September 2009, acting in the name of Manuel Noriega, Di Stefano presented an appeal to French president Nicolas Sarkozy, saying the ruling against Noriega had been incorrectly made in absentia.[65][b]

In May 2010, he made an appeal on behalf of Benguit Omar, saying that he was wrongly convicted for the murder of Jong-Ok Shin.[67]

In January 2011, Di Stefano reported that he had asked for Charles Manson's permission to represent him, in an application to review his trial based upon a violation of the 6th Amendment and a legal argument that had not been raised during Manson's trial, although he had still to get his reply.[18] Around 26 January 2011, Di Stefano claimed to have filed an application with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of Manson claiming the same violations.[68]

Personal legal history Edit

Di Stefano was arrested in June 1984 and charged with fraud before being released on bail.[69] He was again arrested in August of that year and refused bail.[69] In 1986, Di Stefano was tried for conspiracy to obtain property by deception and fraudulent trading, and was convicted after a 78-day trial, jailed for five years, and prohibited from being a company director for 10 years;[7][69][70] of a total of 11 fraud counts, he was convicted of three counts and acquitted of eight.

In the ruling, the judge called him "one of nature's fraudsters... a swindler without scruple or conscience."[11][12][29][70][71][72] and said he was "motivated by personal greed and pretension."[29] Court records show that Di Stefano's only attempt to appeal against the conviction was dismissed in 1987[7][12][16][46][73] and further records published in 2005 showed that he served the full sentence.[74][75]

The Lord Justice of Appeal Stephen Brown said "[the trial] revealed a very deep and wide measure of fraudulent behaviour. This was a man who was undoubtedly seeking to operate a financial fraud wherever he was able to induce people to succumb to representations skilfully made in the form of bogus financial documents."[7][11][72][76] Di Stefano had publicly claimed that his 1987 appeal was successful, until a copy of the failed appeal was made public in 2004 by Rosie Cowan of The Independent.[29] Di Stefano claimed that he had taken legal action in Italian courts of law against Cowan and against Martin Hannan of Scotland on Sunday, but the legal departments of their newspapers said that had no knowledge of any legal action started by Di Stefano against them.[7][29]

He also unsuccessfully appealed in 1989 to the European Commission of Human Rights alleging that his arrest violated the European Convention on Human Rights.[69] Di Stefano claimed in a BBC article that the conviction was quashed on a second appeal in 1988 and that "a sense of injustice remains, making each victory against the system a sweet revenge."[77]

According to The Guardian and the Irish Independent, he had already served a six-month sentence for fraud and false pretenses in 1975 in Ireland, and a three-year sentence for obtaining property by deception and other charges in 1976 in the UK.[47][74] Di Stefano insists that these convictions were those of a different person, called "John" instead of "Giovanni", although they share the same surname, birthday and birthplace.[46][47] According to The New Zealand Herald, Di Stefano had already denied being the "John Di Stefano" who had been convicted in 1986, but, also according to the New Zealand Herald, the New Zealand police managed to verify that they were the same person by comparing his fingerprints.[14] Di Stefano denies that he was ever deported or that his fingerprints were ever taken.

In 1990 a Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal ruled that Di Stefano could not be employed by any solicitor in England or Wales without permission from the Law Society,[7][29][46][47][70][72][74][78] because of his criminal record,[29] although he could still contract a solicitor to act on his name.[78]

In 1990, Giovanni Di Stefano travelled to New Zealand, where he made several multimillion-dollar bids on property on behalf of a Beverly Hills-based company.[14][79][80][81][82][71] The authorities discovered that he had not disclosed a conviction in England in 1986, declared him a prohibited immigrant, and he was subsequently returned to his country of origin.[14][15][82]

In 1991 or 1992,[83] he moved to Yugoslavia.[16][84], where he received the Yugoslavian citizenship and passport by personal authorisation of president Slobodan Milošević.[84][85] The address listed in his passport was Tolstojeva 32, Belgrade, right next to Milošević's official residence; however, he lived further away, at the luxurious Genex apartments.[86] According to The Scotsman and Irish Independent, Di Stefano was moving to a country with no extradition treaty with the UK, to escape a warrant for fraud charges.[16][84]

Around 1992, while trying to buy the MGM film studio, the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service deported him from the United States because of a fraud conviction in the UK in 1986.[16] Months later he applied for a non-immigrant visa for re-entry, and was told that he needed a waiver of grounds of inadmissibility to be eligible.[87] The waiver application was denied by the federal agency, causing the visa to also be denied.[87] In 1993, he appealed to a United States District Court, which ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to review the denial of a waiver application.[87] In 1995, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court, ruling that Di Stefano did not have standing to challenge the waiver denial under the Immigration and Nationality Act.[16][87]

In November 1999 Di Stefano was arrested in Rome and extradited to Britain to be tried for fraud charges in the insolvency in 1991 of five hotels in the English Midlands and a company called Sandhurst Assets.[16][84] British investigators recognised his name when newspapers reported his bids for Dundee football club and for Ellington Colliery, and acted on a 1991 warrant.[84][88] In June 2001, after Di Stefano had spent 18 months in jail, a judge ruled that he couldn't be tried because too much time had passed since the alleged offences.[16][89] During his stay in Rebibbia prison, his friend Arkan was assassinated and his other friend Milošević was jailed shortly before he was released; Di Stefano claims that it was all part of a conspiracy to isolate Milošević from his most trusted adviser.[85]

In 2002 the Governor of HM Prison Belmarsh barred Di Stefano's access to a client in prison, Nicholas van Hoogstraten. The restriction was appealed to the High Court of Justice in R (Van Hoogstraten) v Governor of Belmarsh Prison[90][91] which ruled against the prison governor.[92][93]

The decision held that the governor's challenge to Di Stefano's credentials was not filed in a timely manner, and that some evidence suggested Di Stefano was an Italian lawyer and that Italian lawyers, as a rule, were permitted visitation in British prisons as European lawyers. The justice further ruled that since denying Di Stefano's visits to the prisoner would cause severe prejudice to the client's legal defence, he could not be denied that right until a timely and successful challenge was made.[c][95] In spite of these problems, he managed gain the release Hoogstraten from prison in 2004 (see "notable people" section).[46] In November the Higher court made a different ruling for a different prison, this time saying that Di Stefano had failed to provide adequate credentials, and preventing him from visiting John Palmer in prison.[16]

In December 2003 Di Stefano was featured in a BBC documentary series called Notorious, covering four entrepreneurs that had obtained their fortunes via controversial means; his chapter was called Devil's Advocate.[96] In the documentary he said that Hitler would have never been convicted for killing Jews, thus enraging the Jewish community. At that time Di Stefano was trying to become director of Dundee FC, and the fans of the club were also outraged because he was wearing a Dundee pullover while making those statements. He also boasted of his friendship with Saddam Hussein and with Serbian warlord Arkan.[73]

In January 2004, The Guardian[47] and the Daily Record[97] reported that Di Stefano's legal qualifications were under investigation by the British police and the Law Society since the spring of 2003, to see if he had misrepresented himself as an accredited solicitor, in violation of Solicitors Act 1974.[21][98]

As a result of the investigation he was eventually arrested in 2011 in Spain (see paragraph below). The Law Society declared that he was "not a solicitor, or a registered foreign lawyer, or a registered European lawyer",[99] and that they were unable to verify either his legal qualifications or his status as a foreign lawyer despite going to considerable lengths, and despite asking Di Stefano himself for the information.[47] The Law Society of Scotland[100] and the Ordine Degli Avvocati[29][72] of Rome have also said that he is not a registered solicitor. His name does not appear in Italy's national lawyers' register.[99] Di Stefano claims that he does not need to register with either the Law Society nor with any Italian bar association in order to practise in the UK, a claim that is rejected by the Law Society.[47]

As of 2004, Di Stefano could not represent his clients directly, and he had to represent them through Paul Martin & Co, a firm associated with his legal firm Studio Legale Internazionale that acts as his agent.[101] Alistair Cooke, co-director of the BBC series that made a documentary about Di Stefano said "(...) We witnessed him in court, but he never actually stands up and pretends to be a lawyer. He assembles a legal team and acts as a middle man, whispering in lawyers' ears as they act on behalf of clients. He knows a lot of criminals and introduces them to his legal teams who get them off on technicalities or help them retain their assets."[102]

In March 2006, Ireland Chief Justice Murray told Di Stefano that he would have to provide proof of his legal qualifications before he could act for Patrick 'Dutchy' Holland and be his legal representative,[103][104] and he eventually ruled that Di Stefano had failed to provide any credential.[105][106]

Di Stefano sued Murray for the negative remarks made about him during the case,[107] but he later dropped his complaint, saying that he did not want to harm a "great jurist" just to win a case.[108]

English libel law changed with the Defamation Act 2013, reducing the potential for abuse to exert a chilling effect.[109]

Arrest and trial Edit

Di Stefano was arrested in Palma, Majorca, in Spain on 14 February 2011 on a European Arrest Warrant issued by the British authorities. According to the City of London Police, the warrant had been issued in January 2011 "on matters relating to fraud, theft and money laundering". The arrest was the outcome of a lengthy investigation by the City of London Police's economic crime directorate.[110] According to a statement by the Spanish Interior Ministry, quoting the arrest warrant, Di Stefano was accused of having earned large sums of money in the UK between 2004 and 2009 without being licensed to practise law in that country.[111] The ministry said that he was facing 18 charges for which he could receive a maximum 75 years in prison.[112] Di Stefano voluntarily accepted his extradition to the UK, and he was released without bail until the extradition date, with no passport and with the obligation of going to the judge every few days and communicating any residency change.[113] Di Stefano claimed it was a political trial, prepared after he said that Tony Blair should be judged by his role in the Iraq war.[113]

On 25 August Westminster Magistrates' Court referred the case involving 18 charges of fraud to Southwark Crown Court for a hearing on 30 September.[114] After the hearing, Di Stefano was released on bail, pending trial on 14 January 2013.[115]

In July 2011, Di Stefano announced that he was launching News of the World Online, a website with a masthead logo similar to that of the recently closed News of the World newspaper.[116] On 23 March 2012, News International, the paper's former publisher, sued Di Stefano for violating its trademark.[117][118]

Subsequently, in a Press Complaints Commission case relating to a Sunday Mail article[119] about a YouTube video posted by Tricia Walsh-Smith stating "that he had taken £100,000 from the individual who had posted the online video".[120] The Sunday Mail agreed to print a statement saying "Giovanni Di Stefano has denied ripping off Tricia Walsh-Smith ... Ms Walsh-Smith claimed that Mr Di Stefano duped her into investing in the News of the World online while she was contributing a weekly column, "Livin' an' Lovin' with Tricia Walsh-Smith".[121][122] Four of the August 2012 charges against him related to Walsh-Smith; Di Stefano had falsely claimed to be a lawyer, claiming he could overturn the Walsh-Smith pre-nuptial agreement, and persuading Walsh-Smith to invest in News of the World online. This brought the charges against Di Stefano up to 28 counts of fraud and his trial began at Southwark Crown Court on 28 January 2013.[123][124] On 6 March 2013 he told the court that he was a qualified advocate because Yugoslavian president Milošević had awarded him an honorary law doctorate from the University of Belgrade "simply because he had asked."[125]

On 27 March 2013 he was found guilty of all charges; nine counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception, eight counts of fraud, three counts of acquiring criminal property, two counts of using a false instrument, one count of attempting to obtain a money transfer by deception, one count of obtaining property by deception and one count of using criminal property.[6] He subsequently pleaded guilty to two additional counts: defrauding a couple out of £160,000, including a woman's life savings of £75,000, and stealing £150,000 from a man who had been in a car accident and lost a limb.[126]

He was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment. Judge Alistair McCreath said that Di Stefano had caused misery and frustration to many people and called him a predator for his treatment of "desperate and vulnerable" clients: "You had no regard for them nor for their anguish. Your only concern was to line your own pockets." He described Di Stefano's crimes as "planned and persistent," his defence in court as "breathtakingly cynical,"[20] and his overall conduct as showing "greed, dishonesty and utter disregard for the sensibilities of others."[126]

Hilary Ryan, from the Crown Prosecution Service's organised crime division, said: "For many years, Giovanni Di Stefano described himself to potential clients as a lawyer and usually as an Italian 'avvocato'. He was nothing of the sort. When the law caught up with him, he falsely claimed to have obtained various formal legal qualifications. He then went on to claim that having taught himself the law, he was entitled to describe himself as a lawyer. This was fraud by anyone's standards and a charade that he kept up for over eight years in order to line his own pockets. (...) Giovanni Di Stefano routinely tricked his clients and abused their trust. (...)"[127]

On 4 April 2014, eight and a half years were added to Di Stefano's 14-year sentence, unless he compensated his victims immediately. The judge who jailed him in March 2013 at Southwark Crown Court, Alistair McCreath, told him to "pay back £1.4 million forthwith or serve the extra time." He said Di Stefano had no intention of paying and had "stuck up two fingers to the court".[128]

Other interests Edit

Football Edit

When he went back to Italy to the region of his birth, he bought the local team Campobasso Calcio,[17] the club had to close a year later due to financial problems. In association with Arkan he purchased control of the Serbian second division football club FK Obilić;[129] within two seasons the club was promoted from the Serbian second division to a place in the UEFA Champions League, amidst accusations of threats, intimidations and match-fixing, which Di Stefano has always denied.[3][19][130][131] Di Stefano announced in 1999 he had purchased 34% of Dundee F.C., but Dundee's board denied that any deal had been closed.[132] The board finally rejected the bid when it was made public that he was a friend of Serbian warlord Arkan, and that Suffolk police had issued an extradition warrant for fraud charges dating back to 1991.[16][129][133][134] In January 2001, Di Stefano announced his intention to purchase a 6% stake in Norwich City from its former vice-chairman Jimmy Jones.[135] These shares would not give Di Stefano a seat of the board of directors, but he said that they allowed him to sue the majority shareholders to get a seat or to buy more shares.[136] The club officials claim that the share transfer was never confirmed.[136]

In 2002, Di Stefano entered into talks to purchase a 60% stake in Northampton Town FC,[19] however Di Stefano's valuation of the club changed following an EGM, and the deal fell through.[137] Di Stefano approached the Dundee board again in 2003, and was appointed as a director on 7 August 2003.[129] Initially the club attracted big-name players such as Craig Burley and Fabrizio Ravanelli but it quickly ran into financial difficulties; 15 senior players were released from their contracts,[138] the Scottish Football Association refused to confirm his appointment as director because his fraud convictions didn't qualify him as a "fit and proper person" as required by article 10 of its rules.[139] The Dundee board asked Di Stefano's to resign,[102] which he did on 22 January 2004.[140] In April 2005, he proclaimed an interest in investing approximately €1m in Irish football club Shelbourne,[141] but the club rejected his interest, citing his decision to let his intentions be known to the media first as the reason.[142] In April 2006, there were rumours about Di Stefano trying to buy Drogheda United F.C. and Waterford United F.C., but both clubs issued statements denying any contact.[143][144][145] In October 2007, Di Stefano announced through his website his renewed interest in taking control of Norwich City.[146] In February 2011 the French magazine So Foot published an interview stating that Di Stefano was considering a bid with others to acquire a stake in AS Monaco FC and multi branding the football club with his record companies.[147][148]

A 2019 book relates in context his involvement with Norwith City and Dundee, what happened exactly with the signings of football stars Fabrizio Ravanelli and Claudio Caniggia, and what could have happened if Giovanni had managed to take over the clubs.[149][150]

Music production Edit

In 2007, he produced and launched Seriously Single, an album by Italian singer JustCarmen that put a relatively unknown singer into the studio with recordings of big stars from the past. The album was a minor hit, selling 40,000 copies, but some of the duet tracks got 650,000 downloads.[151] In 2009, he produced and launched a second album by JustCarmen, I wish u love, which had two new duets with The Bachelors.[151][152]

His interest on music comes from his youth, when he played guitar themes and organised music events for his house at school.[10] He has also released in 2009 a CD with his own songs The Next Time.[153][154]

Politics Edit

In April 2004, Di Stefano founded a political party,[155] the Radical Party of Great Britain, by registering it at the Electoral Commission with himself as its leader,[156] but the party fielded no candidates in the 2005 general election, the 2008 London Assembly election, or the 2008 local elections. It reported no income, expenditure, assets or liabilities in 2006–2008.[157]

In a November 2007 interview with Dublin's Hot Press magazine's senior editor Jason O'Toole, Di Stefano expressed an interest in running in the Republic of Ireland in the European Union elections with an anti-immigration manifesto.[d][158][159]

Around 1999–2002 he had been the secretary general of the "right wing but not fanatical" Partito Nazionale Italiano.[8][19][160] In 1999, he was also the foreign speaker of the Party of the Serbian Unit of his friend Arkan.[8]

Other companies Edit

In the eighties, Di Stefano says that he imported videotapes from Hong Kong into the UK, making a £200 million fortune when he was still in his 20s.[7][96]

In 1992–1999, when he was in Yugoslavia, Di Stefano says that he invested in the country's national airline, which had been grounded because of the war.[7]

In 1990 Di Stefano and some partners tried to buy the MGM movie studios.[16] One of the MGM executives said in Variety that Di Stefano's bid was the stuff of "Alice in Wonderland".[16] The bid was not successful.[16] His partners Florio Fiorini and Giancarlo Parretti bribed officials of Credit Lyonnais bank, so they could obtain a credit to bid for MGM, and they were eventually jailed.[73] Di Stefano says that the only consequence for him is that he was deported from the US.[73] After being deported, Di Stefano migrated to Yugoslavia in fear of what the bank could make to him after causing such a loss of money.[7] He says that he actually earned $249 million from the deal,[73] at a time when he was still in his 30s.[96] According to Di Stefano, in 1989 he bought Cinema Five UK, a chain of 50 cinemas, from MGM for only £8 million, and he resold them for $249 million (£160 million) to Credit Lyonnais, and this is partly the basis of his personal fortune[7] (In 2003 Di Stefano claimed to have a fortune of £450 million.[73]) The Scotsman says that MGM sued Di Stefano and won damages from him.[16]

In 1993, on behalf of Sandhurst Assets, Di Stefano offered to buy Viajes Meliá, a Spanish travel agency owned by hotel chain Sol Meliá, just as another company had retracted its bid. The company was heavily in debt, and Di Stefano offered only $100 million, promising to put forward $350 million (4,000 million pesetas at that time) to pay the debts once he was the owner, and further $50 million (around 575 million pesetas) in investments.[161] Di Stefano was later arrested for fraud over dealings related to Sandhurst.[88]

In 1999 Di Stefano, conducting his business affairs from jail,[88] started negotiations to buy for £10 million the Ellington Colliery, a deep coal mine that was about to close, but he couldn't get the necessary permission from the Coal Authority.[88][162] He eventually lost interest in the deal by 2000, when his associate Arkan was murdered.[88]

Notes Edit

  1. ^ Di Stefano said in 2004 that he was part of the legal team, but in August 2005 all lawyers except Khalil al-Duleimi were fired. The trial of Saddam Hussein started in October 2005, and Al-Duleimi represented Saddam in exclusive during all the duration the trial Saddam family slims defence team, BBC, 8 August 2005[7]
  2. ^ The appeal was rejected because Noriega has the right to request a new trial the moment he returns to France, and indults could only be awarded when a definitive ruling has been made.[66]
  3. ^ The right of a qualified European Union lawyer to practise in a country other than their country of origin was, until 1 July 2007, governed by the provisions of the (United Kingdom) European Communities (Services of Lawyers) Order 1978 (SI 1978/1910) (Amended 2004).[94]
  4. ^ "I'm going to run in Ireland in the European elections. You better believe it. I'm perfectly entitled in the European election to run in any EU state. You don't need to be resident or Irish. I will take my seat in Ireland because a lot of people will follow me. We are not a right-wing party. We may be radical in name but not in nature. One of the things we'll have to deal with, as a matter of urgency, is immigration. That is the key thing because otherwise you are going to dilute Irish blood to such an extent that you'll almost wish that Cromwell hadn't got ill!"

References Edit

  1. ^ "Bogus Italian lawyer Giovanni di Stefano is jailed for 14 years". BBC News. 28 March 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e Geoghegan, Tom (31 March 2005). "Jonathan King's 'best friend'". BBC News. Retrieved 24 May 2007.
  3. ^ a b c d e Esther Addley (25 October 2002). "The devil's advocate". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 24 May 2007.
  4. ^ a b Cohen, Roger (20 February 1995). "Serbia Dazzles Itself: Terror Suspect Weds Singer". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 October 2008.
  5. ^ a b "Self-styled 'lawyer' jailed for 14 for deception, fraud and money laundering". City of London Police. 28 March 2013. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013.
  6. ^ a b "Bogus Italian lawyer Giovanni di Stefano found guilty". BBC News. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
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External links Edit

  • Giovanni Di Stefano's channel on YouTube

October 15, 2023
giovanni, stefano, fraudster, giovanni, stefano, born, july, 1955, italian, businessman, convicted, fraudster, been, involved, legal, cases, high, profile, notorious, defendants, worldwide, legal, qualifications, barred, from, working, registered, work, advoca. Giovanni Di Stefano born 1 July 1955 is an Italian businessman and convicted fraudster He has been involved in legal cases for high profile notorious defendants worldwide He has no legal qualifications is barred from working in law in the UK and is not registered to work as an advocate in the UK or Italy 1 He has been referred to as The Devil s Advocate for his advocacy on behalf of such notorious clients as Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic 2 3 He was also a business associate of Zeljko Raznatovic a Serbian paramilitary leader and indicted war criminal 3 4 Giovanni Di Stefano12 June 2009Born 1955 07 01 July 1 1955 age 68 He has been convicted four times in Ireland and the United Kingdom of fraud and related criminal offences serving a total of eight and a half years for convictions between 1975 and the late 1980s He was described by a judge as one of life s great swindlers 5 His most recent conviction was in March 2013 when he was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment after being found guilty or pleading guilty to 27 charges including deception fraud and money laundering between 2001 and 2011 related to tricking people into thinking he was a bona fide legal professional 5 6 Contents 1 Life and career 1 1 Legal career 1 2 Notable claims 1 3 Personal legal history 1 4 Arrest and trial 2 Other interests 2 1 Football 2 2 Music production 2 3 Politics 2 4 Other companies 3 Notes 4 References 5 External linksLife and career EditDi Stefano was born in Petrella Tifernina near Campobasso in southern Italy citation needed When his father emigrated to the UK to work in a shoe factory Giovanni and his mother later followed settling in Irchester Northamptonshire when Giovanni was six years old 2 7 8 He then went on to study at Wollaston Secondary Modern School citation needed and later spent one year at Wellingborough Grammar School which later became Wrenn School 7 dead link 9 10 In his 1986 fraud trial 11 and in his entry in Marquis Who s Who 12 he claimed that he had obtained a PhD in law from Cambridge University around this time but this claim was later found to be without foundation 11 12 In his 20s he claimed to have earned a fortune importing videotapes from Hong Kong 2 7 Despite living much of his early life in England he considered himself an Italian 13 During this time at school he was often called John the English equivalent of Giovanni 14 15 16 Di Stefano lived in Britain until 1989 He then moved to several locations Los Angeles between 1989 and 1992 citation needed In 1992 his bid to buy the MGM movie studios failed and he fled to Yugoslavia because that country s breakup had made it a war zone and nobody would look for him there 7 In Yugoslavia he became a friend of its then president Slobodan Milosevic who granted him Yugoslav nationality with a Yugoslavian passport 9 Additionally he became a spokesman a business partner and a personal legal representative of the Serbian warlord Arkan 3 4 17 He also served as general in the Serb Volunteer Guard Arkan s Tigers although he never fought 18 2 19 He stayed in Serbia until 1999 citation needed and later Italy from 1999 to 2011 while working in the UK as a lawyer In 2011 he was arrested and extradited to the UK because he lacked the legal requisites necessary to work as a lawyer in the UK In 2013 he was sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment in a UK prison 20 Legal career Edit Di Stefano had an office in Rome the Studio Legale Internazionale 21 He is well documented in the UK media for defending some of the country s most notorious villains 2 He once commented that he would defend Adolf Hitler or Satan 2 He says he defends the indefensible 13 17 and his autobiography is called Defending the Indefensible 22 When asked about his motivation he replied No one s ever asked Does Satan have a case Does he have a good case 13 The Scotsman described Di Stefano as a colourful and often controversial lawyer 23 The Guardian has called him surely the only man in the world to claim the personal friendship of Saddam Hussein and the personal enmity of Delia Smith after a failed bid to buy Norwich City F C 3 Di Stefano used the Italian title avvocato advocate analogous to an English lawyer on his business card and misled clients and the courts into believing that he was a qualified lawyer 24 On 27 March 2013 he was convicted on 25 charges including deception fraud and money laundering between 2001 and 2011 by a jury at Southwark Crown Court in London During the trial he had told the court of his links to Robert Mugabe Osama bin Laden Saddam Hussein whom he described as a nice guy and his friendship with the daughter of Slobodan Milosevic 25 He took up the avvocato title after a 2002 High Court ruling which allowed him to represent Nicholas van Hoogstraten in his manslaughter appeal citation needed 26 In evidence he admitted that he was not a qualified lawyer but that he only realised this in hindsight Di Stefano attracted clients after a BBC documentary entitled Notorious see below these included Paul Bush jailed for life in 2003 for kidnapping and murder whose wife paid 20 000 for legal services and with others 100 000 to di Stefano to secure bail for her husband the money was received before the killer was told there was never any possibility of bail Much of this 100 000 bail security was never returned even after the appeal failed Cocaine smuggler Laurent Penchef s parents paid di Stefano 10 000 in June 2005 for legal services specifically CCRC and advice regarding repatriation to France however he was never given clear advice about how his 18 year jail sentence would be implemented in France and no work was done taking his case to the CCRC The money was sent to a bank in Rome by Penchef s parents but prosecutor David Aaronberg QC said Mr Di Stefano did little or nothing to assist He was no more a qualified lawyer than he was a surgeon qualified to perform surgery or pilot qualified to fly an aeroplane said Mr Aaronberg 27 Notable claims Edit Notable people whom Giovanni Di Stefano has claimed to represent include Harold Shipman 28 The Irish Independent commented The law firm that represented Shipman later denied that di Stefano had acted for its client 29 Saddam Hussein 30 31 32 only as part of his legal team in 2004 citation needed and only before the trial began a Tariq Aziz 33 Jeremy Bamber 34 Nicholas van Hoogstraten 35 Patrick Holland 36 37 38 John Gilligan 39 Charles Bronson 40 41 Ali Hassan al Majid known as Chemical Ali whose death sentence Di Stefano tried but failed to overturn 41 Pop singer and serial sex offender Gary Glitter 42 Birgit Cunningham on her child support payment complaints against the son of billionaire Sir Nicholas Nuttall citation needed Ian Brady 43 Ian Strachan one of the defendants in the 2007 royal blackmail plot 44 He has written to the Parole Board requesting Ronnie Biggs s release on compassionate grounds 45 In 2002 he managed to overturn a manslaughter conviction against Hoogstraten getting him released from prison 46 In January 2004 Di Stefano again came to fame when he claimed in television interviews to be acting for serial killer Harold Shipman 46 However Shipman s lawyer said that Shipman had rejected Di Stefano s offer in May 2003 and that neither he nor any member of Shipman s family believed that Di Stefano was acting for Shipman 21 29 This and an incident in a 2004 trial of John Palmer prompted an investigation into Di Stefano s qualifications as lawyer see personal legal history section 21 47 48 On 17 March 2007 Di Stefano wrote to Lord Goldsmith at that time the Attorney General for England and Wales asking for leave to prosecute Judge Rauf Rashid Abd al Rahman who had sentenced Saddam Hussein under the Geneva Conventions Act 1957 49 On 14 January 2008 Di Stefano was reported as saying Hurried justice is no justice after a claimed UK client who had won 1million in the National Lottery failed to attend court as a witness in an assault case Judge Christopher Elwen jailed her for 14 days anyway 50 In January 2007 Di Stefano asked the International Criminal Court to make a full investigation of the Al Dujail trials of Saddam Hussein s half brother Barzan Ibrahim al Tikriti and Iraq s judiciary head Awad Hamed al Bandar 51 Di Stefano circulated a note handwritten by Barzan where he explains that he wasn t responsible for the killings at Dujail for which he was sentenced to death 51 In October 2007 he complained that the investigation of Blackwater s civilian deaths on Iraq was unjust because they were forced to operate in a climate and conditions that forced them to shoot first and ask questions later when they came under attack 52 Also in October 2007 he argued that Iraqi officials had to accept a pardon application for Ali Hassan al Majid Chemical Ali because the 30 day execution window set the trial had passed 53 54 The US military later refused to release Ali for his execution until the legal questions were answered 55 Ali was sentenced to death again in February 2008 for different charges 56 The execution was further delayed in December 2008 as a new trial was opened against him with further charges 56 Ali was executed on 25 January 2010 fulfilling eight death sentences 57 In October 2007 Di Stefano asked the British Home Secretary for posthumous pardon of Hawley Harvey Crippen who had been hanged for murder in 1910 on the basis of supposed new forensic evidence indicating that the body found was not that of his wife and a letter from his wife that was sent after the date of the alleged murder and was never presented on the trial and that he never murdered her 58 The request was filed on behalf of the doctor s last living relative 59 On 15 January 2008 Di Stefano said that he knew of a sixth victim of Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley called Jennifer Tighe He said he had a photo of her and intended to speak to Brady to see if the killer would confess to this latest allegation citation needed On 21 January 2008 Greater Manchester Police GMP issued a statement saying that Jennifer Tighe was in fact alive and that Mr Di Stefano has previously made claims regarding the Moors murders in the media but has not provided any detail to Greater Manchester Police 60 Di Stefano invited GMP to interview his client and to provide proper evidence that Tighe was still alive 61 Moors murderer Ian Brady had been force fed at a top security hospital since he started a hunger strike in September 1999 62 In September 2007 Brady applied via Di Stefano to be moved to a conventional jail where he intended to starve himself to death 43 Later in November 2008 when Brady was still being force fed Giovanni accused the state of legally starving Brady to death by not giving him enough food citation needed In 2009 2010 Di Stefano made appeals to move him to a Scottish prison so he can die there a move that the Scottish government strongly opposed 63 64 In September 2009 acting in the name of Manuel Noriega Di Stefano presented an appeal to French president Nicolas Sarkozy saying the ruling against Noriega had been incorrectly made in absentia 65 b In May 2010 he made an appeal on behalf of Benguit Omar saying that he was wrongly convicted for the murder of Jong Ok Shin 67 In January 2011 Di Stefano reported that he had asked for Charles Manson s permission to represent him in an application to review his trial based upon a violation of the 6th Amendment and a legal argument that had not been raised during Manson s trial although he had still to get his reply 18 Around 26 January 2011 Di Stefano claimed to have filed an application with the Inter American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of Manson claiming the same violations 68 Personal legal history Edit Di Stefano was arrested in June 1984 and charged with fraud before being released on bail 69 He was again arrested in August of that year and refused bail 69 In 1986 Di Stefano was tried for conspiracy to obtain property by deception and fraudulent trading and was convicted after a 78 day trial jailed for five years and prohibited from being a company director for 10 years 7 69 70 of a total of 11 fraud counts he was convicted of three counts and acquitted of eight In the ruling the judge called him one of nature s fraudsters a swindler without scruple or conscience 11 12 29 70 71 72 and said he was motivated by personal greed and pretension 29 Court records show that Di Stefano s only attempt to appeal against the conviction was dismissed in 1987 7 12 16 46 73 and further records published in 2005 showed that he served the full sentence 74 75 The Lord Justice of Appeal Stephen Brown said the trial revealed a very deep and wide measure of fraudulent behaviour This was a man who was undoubtedly seeking to operate a financial fraud wherever he was able to induce people to succumb to representations skilfully made in the form of bogus financial documents 7 11 72 76 Di Stefano had publicly claimed that his 1987 appeal was successful until a copy of the failed appeal was made public in 2004 by Rosie Cowan of The Independent 29 Di Stefano claimed that he had taken legal action in Italian courts of law against Cowan and against Martin Hannan of Scotland on Sunday but the legal departments of their newspapers said that had no knowledge of any legal action started by Di Stefano against them 7 29 He also unsuccessfully appealed in 1989 to the European Commission of Human Rights alleging that his arrest violated the European Convention on Human Rights 69 Di Stefano claimed in a BBC article that the conviction was quashed on a second appeal in 1988 and that a sense of injustice remains making each victory against the system a sweet revenge 77 According to The Guardian and the Irish Independent he had already served a six month sentence for fraud and false pretenses in 1975 in Ireland and a three year sentence for obtaining property by deception and other charges in 1976 in the UK 47 74 Di Stefano insists that these convictions were those of a different person called John instead of Giovanni although they share the same surname birthday and birthplace 46 47 According to The New Zealand Herald Di Stefano had already denied being the John Di Stefano who had been convicted in 1986 but also according to the New Zealand Herald the New Zealand police managed to verify that they were the same person by comparing his fingerprints 14 Di Stefano denies that he was ever deported or that his fingerprints were ever taken In 1990 a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal ruled that Di Stefano could not be employed by any solicitor in England or Wales without permission from the Law Society 7 29 46 47 70 72 74 78 because of his criminal record 29 although he could still contract a solicitor to act on his name 78 In 1990 Giovanni Di Stefano travelled to New Zealand where he made several multimillion dollar bids on property on behalf of a Beverly Hills based company 14 79 80 81 82 71 The authorities discovered that he had not disclosed a conviction in England in 1986 declared him a prohibited immigrant and he was subsequently returned to his country of origin 14 15 82 In 1991 or 1992 83 he moved to Yugoslavia 16 84 where he received the Yugoslavian citizenship and passport by personal authorisation of president Slobodan Milosevic 84 85 The address listed in his passport was Tolstojeva 32 Belgrade right next to Milosevic s official residence however he lived further away at the luxurious Genex apartments 86 According to The Scotsman and Irish Independent Di Stefano was moving to a country with no extradition treaty with the UK to escape a warrant for fraud charges 16 84 Around 1992 while trying to buy the MGM film studio the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service deported him from the United States because of a fraud conviction in the UK in 1986 16 Months later he applied for a non immigrant visa for re entry and was told that he needed a waiver of grounds of inadmissibility to be eligible 87 The waiver application was denied by the federal agency causing the visa to also be denied 87 In 1993 he appealed to a United States District Court which ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to review the denial of a waiver application 87 In 1995 the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court ruling that Di Stefano did not have standing to challenge the waiver denial under the Immigration and Nationality Act 16 87 In November 1999 Di Stefano was arrested in Rome and extradited to Britain to be tried for fraud charges in the insolvency in 1991 of five hotels in the English Midlands and a company called Sandhurst Assets 16 84 British investigators recognised his name when newspapers reported his bids for Dundee football club and for Ellington Colliery and acted on a 1991 warrant 84 88 In June 2001 after Di Stefano had spent 18 months in jail a judge ruled that he couldn t be tried because too much time had passed since the alleged offences 16 89 During his stay in Rebibbia prison his friend Arkan was assassinated and his other friend Milosevic was jailed shortly before he was released Di Stefano claims that it was all part of a conspiracy to isolate Milosevic from his most trusted adviser 85 In 2002 the Governor of HM Prison Belmarsh barred Di Stefano s access to a client in prison Nicholas van Hoogstraten The restriction was appealed to the High Court of Justice in R Van Hoogstraten v Governor of Belmarsh Prison 90 91 which ruled against the prison governor 92 93 The decision held that the governor s challenge to Di Stefano s credentials was not filed in a timely manner and that some evidence suggested Di Stefano was an Italian lawyer and that Italian lawyers as a rule were permitted visitation in British prisons as European lawyers The justice further ruled that since denying Di Stefano s visits to the prisoner would cause severe prejudice to the client s legal defence he could not be denied that right until a timely and successful challenge was made c 95 In spite of these problems he managed gain the release Hoogstraten from prison in 2004 see notable people section 46 In November the Higher court made a different ruling for a different prison this time saying that Di Stefano had failed to provide adequate credentials and preventing him from visiting John Palmer in prison 16 In December 2003 Di Stefano was featured in a BBC documentary series called Notorious covering four entrepreneurs that had obtained their fortunes via controversial means his chapter was called Devil s Advocate 96 In the documentary he said that Hitler would have never been convicted for killing Jews thus enraging the Jewish community At that time Di Stefano was trying to become director of Dundee FC and the fans of the club were also outraged because he was wearing a Dundee pullover while making those statements He also boasted of his friendship with Saddam Hussein and with Serbian warlord Arkan 73 In January 2004 The Guardian 47 and the Daily Record 97 reported that Di Stefano s legal qualifications were under investigation by the British police and the Law Society since the spring of 2003 to see if he had misrepresented himself as an accredited solicitor in violation of Solicitors Act 1974 21 98 As a result of the investigation he was eventually arrested in 2011 in Spain see paragraph below The Law Society declared that he was not a solicitor or a registered foreign lawyer or a registered European lawyer 99 and that they were unable to verify either his legal qualifications or his status as a foreign lawyer despite going to considerable lengths and despite asking Di Stefano himself for the information 47 The Law Society of Scotland 100 and the Ordine Degli Avvocati 29 72 of Rome have also said that he is not a registered solicitor His name does not appear in Italy s national lawyers register 99 Di Stefano claims that he does not need to register with either the Law Society nor with any Italian bar association in order to practise in the UK a claim that is rejected by the Law Society 47 As of 2004 Di Stefano could not represent his clients directly and he had to represent them through Paul Martin amp Co a firm associated with his legal firm Studio Legale Internazionale that acts as his agent 101 Alistair Cooke co director of the BBC series that made a documentary about Di Stefano said We witnessed him in court but he never actually stands up and pretends to be a lawyer He assembles a legal team and acts as a middle man whispering in lawyers ears as they act on behalf of clients He knows a lot of criminals and introduces them to his legal teams who get them off on technicalities or help them retain their assets 102 In March 2006 Ireland Chief Justice Murray told Di Stefano that he would have to provide proof of his legal qualifications before he could act for Patrick Dutchy Holland and be his legal representative 103 104 and he eventually ruled that Di Stefano had failed to provide any credential 105 106 Di Stefano sued Murray for the negative remarks made about him during the case 107 but he later dropped his complaint saying that he did not want to harm a great jurist just to win a case 108 English libel law changed with the Defamation Act 2013 reducing the potential for abuse to exert a chilling effect 109 Arrest and trial Edit Di Stefano was arrested in Palma Majorca in Spain on 14 February 2011 on a European Arrest Warrant issued by the British authorities According to the City of London Police the warrant had been issued in January 2011 on matters relating to fraud theft and money laundering The arrest was the outcome of a lengthy investigation by the City of London Police s economic crime directorate 110 According to a statement by the Spanish Interior Ministry quoting the arrest warrant Di Stefano was accused of having earned large sums of money in the UK between 2004 and 2009 without being licensed to practise law in that country 111 The ministry said that he was facing 18 charges for which he could receive a maximum 75 years in prison 112 Di Stefano voluntarily accepted his extradition to the UK and he was released without bail until the extradition date with no passport and with the obligation of going to the judge every few days and communicating any residency change 113 Di Stefano claimed it was a political trial prepared after he said that Tony Blair should be judged by his role in the Iraq war 113 On 25 August Westminster Magistrates Court referred the case involving 18 charges of fraud to Southwark Crown Court for a hearing on 30 September 114 After the hearing Di Stefano was released on bail pending trial on 14 January 2013 115 In July 2011 Di Stefano announced that he was launching News of the World Online a website with a masthead logo similar to that of the recently closed News of the World newspaper 116 On 23 March 2012 News International the paper s former publisher sued Di Stefano for violating its trademark 117 118 Subsequently in a Press Complaints Commission case relating to a Sunday Mail article 119 about a YouTube video posted by Tricia Walsh Smith stating that he had taken 100 000 from the individual who had posted the online video 120 The Sunday Mail agreed to print a statement saying Giovanni Di Stefano has denied ripping off Tricia Walsh Smith Ms Walsh Smith claimed that Mr Di Stefano duped her into investing in the News of the World online while she was contributing a weekly column Livin an Lovin with Tricia Walsh Smith 121 122 Four of the August 2012 charges against him related to Walsh Smith Di Stefano had falsely claimed to be a lawyer claiming he could overturn the Walsh Smith pre nuptial agreement and persuading Walsh Smith to invest in News of the World online This brought the charges against Di Stefano up to 28 counts of fraud and his trial began at Southwark Crown Court on 28 January 2013 123 124 On 6 March 2013 he told the court that he was a qualified advocate because Yugoslavian president Milosevic had awarded him an honorary law doctorate from the University of Belgrade simply because he had asked 125 On 27 March 2013 he was found guilty of all charges nine counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception eight counts of fraud three counts of acquiring criminal property two counts of using a false instrument one count of attempting to obtain a money transfer by deception one count of obtaining property by deception and one count of using criminal property 6 He subsequently pleaded guilty to two additional counts defrauding a couple out of 160 000 including a woman s life savings of 75 000 and stealing 150 000 from a man who had been in a car accident and lost a limb 126 He was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment Judge Alistair McCreath said that Di Stefano had caused misery and frustration to many people and called him a predator for his treatment of desperate and vulnerable clients You had no regard for them nor for their anguish Your only concern was to line your own pockets He described Di Stefano s crimes as planned and persistent his defence in court as breathtakingly cynical 20 and his overall conduct as showing greed dishonesty and utter disregard for the sensibilities of others 126 Hilary Ryan from the Crown Prosecution Service s organised crime division said For many years Giovanni Di Stefano described himself to potential clients as a lawyer and usually as an Italian avvocato He was nothing of the sort When the law caught up with him he falsely claimed to have obtained various formal legal qualifications He then went on to claim that having taught himself the law he was entitled to describe himself as a lawyer This was fraud by anyone s standards and a charade that he kept up for over eight years in order to line his own pockets Giovanni Di Stefano routinely tricked his clients and abused their trust 127 On 4 April 2014 eight and a half years were added to Di Stefano s 14 year sentence unless he compensated his victims immediately The judge who jailed him in March 2013 at Southwark Crown Court Alistair McCreath told him to pay back 1 4 million forthwith or serve the extra time He said Di Stefano had no intention of paying and had stuck up two fingers to the court 128 Other interests EditFootball Edit When he went back to Italy to the region of his birth he bought the local team Campobasso Calcio 17 the club had to close a year later due to financial problems In association with Arkan he purchased control of the Serbian second division football club FK Obilic 129 within two seasons the club was promoted from the Serbian second division to a place in the UEFA Champions League amidst accusations of threats intimidations and match fixing which Di Stefano has always denied 3 19 130 131 Di Stefano announced in 1999 he had purchased 34 of Dundee F C but Dundee s board denied that any deal had been closed 132 The board finally rejected the bid when it was made public that he was a friend of Serbian warlord Arkan and that Suffolk police had issued an extradition warrant for fraud charges dating back to 1991 16 129 133 134 In January 2001 Di Stefano announced his intention to purchase a 6 stake in Norwich City from its former vice chairman Jimmy Jones 135 These shares would not give Di Stefano a seat of the board of directors but he said that they allowed him to sue the majority shareholders to get a seat or to buy more shares 136 The club officials claim that the share transfer was never confirmed 136 In 2002 Di Stefano entered into talks to purchase a 60 stake in Northampton Town FC 19 however Di Stefano s valuation of the club changed following an EGM and the deal fell through 137 Di Stefano approached the Dundee board again in 2003 and was appointed as a director on 7 August 2003 129 Initially the club attracted big name players such as Craig Burley and Fabrizio Ravanelli but it quickly ran into financial difficulties 15 senior players were released from their contracts 138 the Scottish Football Association refused to confirm his appointment as director because his fraud convictions didn t qualify him as a fit and proper person as required by article 10 of its rules 139 The Dundee board asked Di Stefano s to resign 102 which he did on 22 January 2004 140 In April 2005 he proclaimed an interest in investing approximately 1m in Irish football club Shelbourne 141 but the club rejected his interest citing his decision to let his intentions be known to the media first as the reason 142 In April 2006 there were rumours about Di Stefano trying to buy Drogheda United F C and Waterford United F C but both clubs issued statements denying any contact 143 144 145 In October 2007 Di Stefano announced through his website his renewed interest in taking control of Norwich City 146 In February 2011 the French magazine So Foot published an interview stating that Di Stefano was considering a bid with others to acquire a stake in AS Monaco FC and multi branding the football club with his record companies 147 148 A 2019 book relates in context his involvement with Norwith City and Dundee what happened exactly with the signings of football stars Fabrizio Ravanelli and Claudio Caniggia and what could have happened if Giovanni had managed to take over the clubs 149 150 Music production Edit In 2007 he produced and launched Seriously Single an album by Italian singer JustCarmen that put a relatively unknown singer into the studio with recordings of big stars from the past The album was a minor hit selling 40 000 copies but some of the duet tracks got 650 000 downloads 151 In 2009 he produced and launched a second album by JustCarmen I wish u love which had two new duets with The Bachelors 151 152 His interest on music comes from his youth when he played guitar themes and organised music events for his house at school 10 He has also released in 2009 a CD with his own songs The Next Time 153 154 Politics Edit In April 2004 Di Stefano founded a political party 155 the Radical Party of Great Britain by registering it at the Electoral Commission with himself as its leader 156 but the party fielded no candidates in the 2005 general election the 2008 London Assembly election or the 2008 local elections It reported no income expenditure assets or liabilities in 2006 2008 157 In a November 2007 interview with Dublin s Hot Press magazine s senior editor Jason O Toole Di Stefano expressed an interest in running in the Republic of Ireland in the European Union elections with an anti immigration manifesto d 158 159 Around 1999 2002 he had been the secretary general of the right wing but not fanatical Partito Nazionale Italiano 8 19 160 In 1999 he was also the foreign speaker of the Party of the Serbian Unit of his friend Arkan 8 Other companies Edit In the eighties Di Stefano says that he imported videotapes from Hong Kong into the UK making a 200 million fortune when he was still in his 20s 7 96 In 1992 1999 when he was in Yugoslavia Di Stefano says that he invested in the country s national airline which had been grounded because of the war 7 In 1990 Di Stefano and some partners tried to buy the MGM movie studios 16 One of the MGM executives said in Variety that Di Stefano s bid was the stuff of Alice in Wonderland 16 The bid was not successful 16 His partners Florio Fiorini and Giancarlo Parretti bribed officials of Credit Lyonnais bank so they could obtain a credit to bid for MGM and they were eventually jailed 73 Di Stefano says that the only consequence for him is that he was deported from the US 73 After being deported Di Stefano migrated to Yugoslavia in fear of what the bank could make to him after causing such a loss of money 7 He says that he actually earned 249 million from the deal 73 at a time when he was still in his 30s 96 According to Di Stefano in 1989 he bought Cinema Five UK a chain of 50 cinemas from MGM for only 8 million and he resold them for 249 million 160 million to Credit Lyonnais and this is partly the basis of his personal fortune 7 In 2003 Di Stefano claimed to have a fortune of 450 million 73 The Scotsman says that MGM sued Di Stefano and won damages from him 16 In 1993 on behalf of Sandhurst Assets Di Stefano offered to buy Viajes Melia a Spanish travel agency owned by hotel chain Sol Melia just as another company had retracted its bid The company was heavily in debt and Di Stefano offered only 100 million promising to put forward 350 million 4 000 million pesetas at that time to pay the debts once he was the owner and further 50 million around 575 million pesetas in investments 161 Di Stefano was later arrested for fraud over dealings related to Sandhurst 88 In 1999 Di Stefano conducting his business affairs from jail 88 started negotiations to buy for 10 million the Ellington Colliery a deep coal mine that was about to close but he couldn t get the necessary permission from the Coal Authority 88 162 He eventually lost interest in the deal by 2000 when his associate Arkan was murdered 88 Notes Edit Di Stefano said in 2004 that he was part of the legal team but in August 2005 all lawyers except Khalil al Duleimi were fired The trial of Saddam Hussein started in October 2005 and Al Duleimi represented Saddam in exclusive during all the duration the trial Saddam family slims defence team BBC 8 August 2005 7 The appeal was rejected because Noriega has the right to request a new trial the moment he returns to France and indults could only be awarded when a definitive ruling has been made 66 The right of a qualified European Union lawyer to practise in a country other than their country of origin was until 1 July 2007 governed by the provisions of the United Kingdom European Communities Services of Lawyers Order 1978 SI 1978 1910 Amended 2004 94 I m going to run in Ireland in the European elections You better believe it I m perfectly entitled in the European election to run in any EU state You don t need to be resident or Irish I will take my seat in Ireland because a lot of people will follow me We are not a right wing party We may be radical in name but not in nature One of the things we ll have to deal with as a matter of urgency is immigration That is the key thing because otherwise you are going to dilute Irish blood to such an extent that you ll almost wish that Cromwell hadn t got ill References Edit Bogus Italian lawyer Giovanni di Stefano is jailed for 14 years BBC News 28 March 2013 a b c d e Geoghegan Tom 31 March 2005 Jonathan King s best friend BBC News Retrieved 24 May 2007 a b c d e Esther Addley 25 October 2002 The devil s advocate The Guardian London Retrieved 24 May 2007 a b Cohen Roger 20 February 1995 Serbia Dazzles Itself Terror Suspect Weds Singer The New York Times Retrieved 28 October 2008 a b Self styled lawyer jailed for 14 for deception fraud and money laundering City of London Police 28 March 2013 Archived from the original on 5 May 2013 a b Bogus Italian lawyer Giovanni di Stefano found guilty BBC News 27 March 2013 Retrieved 27 March 2013 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Russell Miller 21 August 2005 A law unto himself London Times Online www timesonline co uk Archived from the original on 22 January 2016 a b c Orlando Sandro 12 April 1999 Il palazzinaro di Milosevic Corriere della Sera a b Renzo Cianfanelli 12 June 1995 Il Boss di Belgrado City Corriere della Sera in Italian a b Wellingborough Grammar School ed 1972 Magazine PDF pp 15 26 33 Archived from the original PDF on 27 March 2009 a b c d Peter Popham 3 July 2008 A Law unto Himself The Independent archived from the original on 25 December 2013 registration required a b c d Club s saviour revealed as a swindler The Scotsman 12 October 2003 a b c Torment for royal named in sex and drugs plot Evening Standard London 29 October 2007 Archived from the original on 25 October 2008 a b c d NZPA 31 October 2007 Familiar name in royal case The New Zealand Herald Retrieved 24 July 2008 a b Kate McClymont 9 July 2004 Marsden s invitation to Baghdad The Sydney Morning Herald Retrieved 24 July 2008 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Hannan Martin 12 October 2003 Giovanni Di Stefano The Truth The Scotsman Edinburgh retrieved 29 December 2007 a b c Maria Margherita Peracchino 12 December 2006 Papa Di Stefano l avvocato italiano di Saddam News ITALIA PRESS in Italian Archived from the original on 5 July 2009 online translation 1 a b Henry Langston January 2010 Meet the lawyer who s trying to get Charles Mason out of jail Vice archived from the original on 5 February 2013 a b c d Conn David 22 May 2002 Arkan s lawyer has ambitions to take over Northampton The Independent London Archived from the original on 2 January 2008 Retrieved 5 November 2007 a b Bogus Italian lawyer Giovanni di Stefano is jailed for 14 years BBC News 28 March 2013 a b c d Cowan Rosie 21 January 2004 Fraudster lawyer s claim to act for Shipman is bogus says family s solicitor The Guardian London Retrieved 20 April 2008 Giovanni di Stefano 2005 Stilgrafica ed Defending the Indefensible Rome a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Wright Angus 4 December 2003 Marr brothers promise to write off Dundee debts The Scotsman Archived from the original on 23 May 2005 Retrieved 29 December 2007 Former Dundee director Giovanni di Stefano found guilty of pretending to be a lawyer Scottish Daily Record 27 March 2013 Retrieved 27 March 2013 Legge James 27 March 2013 Devil s advocate the fake lawyer Giovanni di Stefano who claimed links to Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein found guilty on 25 charges The Independent London Retrieved 27 March 2013 R on the application of van Hoogstraten v Governor of Belmarsh Prison 2003 1 WLR 263 2002 EWHC 1965 Admin Dixon Hayley 27 March 2013 The Devil s advocate is facing jail The Daily Telegraph London Retrieved 27 March 2013 Devil s advocate The world s most notorious lawyer defends himself Independent co uk 3 July 2008 a b c d e f g h i Jim Cusack 28 August 2005 New lawyer for Gilligan and Holland is a conman Irish Independent Mohammad abu Ghosh Photograph Associated Press Archived from the original on 7 July 2009 Giovanni di Stefano a defence lawyer for Saddam Hussein speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in the Jordanian capital of Amman Tuesday 5 December 2006 David Fickling and agencies 21 June 2006 Gunmen kill Saddam lawyer The Guardian The London based lawyer Giovanni di Stefano who is on Saddam s defence team Haider Aziz Al sayer Jassim Ali Rasheed et al vs Saddam Hussein et al Civil Action No 04 1862 EGS US District Court for the District of Columbia 18 December 2006 Archived from the original on 27 March 2009 Defendant Saddam Hussein to request the Court for an Order to permit Giovanni Di Stefano Mr Hussein s lawyer to have reasonable access to meet and confer with Mr Hussein in private to advise him of the existence of this civil action and to take instructions from Mr Hussein to present whatever objections he might raise to this pending civil action Defendant Saddam Hussein through one of his lawyers Giovanni Di Stefano Iraq Ex deputy PM is innocent says defence lawyer Adnkronos Politics BBC article and video interview for HARDtalk by David Jessel first broadcast 2004 03 25 Hoogstraten to fight conviction BBC News 12 March 2003 Retrieved 4 January 2010 Sky Exclusive I Didn t Kill Veronica Sky News 10 April 2006 Archived from the original on 11 July 2012 Retrieved 1 October 2011 Brian Daly 10 April 2006 Exclusive Sky News Ireland interview with Dutchy Holland Sky News Ireland Archived from the original on 3 June 2006 Retrieved 1 October 2011 Five guilty of 10m kidnap plot BBC News 28 April 2008 Retrieved 29 July 2008 Shelbourne scraps talks with controversial Di Stefano US Independent co uk Archived from the original on 19 May 2008 a b Hull Daily News Online amp Hull Events Hull Daily Mail Archived from the original on 5 May 2013 Glitter planning move here as soon as he can Irish Independent a b Stefanie Marsh 30 October 2007 The face The Times London Cathy Vervier 4 November 2007 Checkered career of blackmail case devil s advocate London Independent UK Archived from the original on 8 January 2008 Biggs bid for Christmas release BBC News 4 April 2008 Retrieved 4 January 2010 a b c d e f Defending the indefensible The Saturday Profile Gionanni Di Stefano The Scotsman Edinburgh 17 January 2004 a b c d e f g Cowan Rosie 15 January 2004 Police probe Shipman lawyer claim The Guardian London Retrieved 20 April 2008 Angus Howarth 28 January 2004 Judge queries di Stefano s qualifications The Scotsman Edinburgh Prosecuting Saddam s trial judge in the UK JURIST 27 April 2007 Archived from the original on 2 May 2008 Retrieved 20 April 2008 Jailed lotto winner loses appeal BBC News 14 January 2008 Retrieved 20 April 2008 a b Barzan s final plea The Daily Telegraph London 17 January 2007 Investigation of Blackwater is unjust JURIST 8 October 2007 Archived from the original on 8 May 2009 Gabriel Haboubi 17 October 2007 Chemical Ali execution further delayed JURIST Archived from the original on 8 May 2009 Execution of Al Majid without response to pardon petition would be murder JURIST 16 October 2007 Archived from the original on 8 May 2009 Murphy Brett 17 November 2007 Chemical Ali transfer for execution will wait until legal questions answered US JURIST Archived from the original on 8 May 2009 a b Saddam loyalists face new charges BBC 28 December 2008 Retrieved 4 January 2010 Chemical Ali executed in Iraq BBC News 25 January 2010 Di Stefano calls for Crippen pardon Studio Legale Internazionale Archived from the original on 16 February 2012 online video statement on YouTube Will the Devil s advocate get a pardon for Crippen Camden New Journal 17 December 2007 Moors murder victim is alive Archived 26 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine Greater Manchester Police Accessed 26 January 2008 Response from Giovanni Di Stefano to Greater Manchester police statement re Moors murders Studio Legale Internazionale 21 January entry Tran Mark 10 March 2000 Brady loses bid to die The Guardian London retrieved 29 September 2009 official Youtube account of STV News 1 September 2010 Phone interview with Giovanni Di Stefano audio dead YouTube link heraldscotland staff 14 September 2009 Moors murderer Ian Brady wants to die in Scottish prison The Herald Panama Noriega chiede grazia a Sarkozy L ex dittatore 75 anni vuole evitare l estradizione in Francia dove e accusato di riciclaggio di denaro Corriere della Sera in Italian 9 September 2009 Betty Brannan Jaen Francia no puede analizar peticion de Noriega in Spanish prensa com Panama Omicidio Claps Restivo segnalato alla polizia inglese La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno 7 May 2010 archived from the original on 22 December 2015 Benguit Omar s family and the lawyer Giovanni di Stefano ask for the reopening of the case and for an investigation for the death of Oki Shin by Danilo Restivo As revealed by the Advocate Di Stefano an element kept hidden from the defense the murderer cut a lock of hair from Oki An element Tg5 says that could link her death to the cases of Heather Barnett and Elisa Claps Saddam Hussein s attorney represents Charles Manson in petition a b c d European Commission of Human Rights 1992 Application Requete Nº 12391 86 John Di Stefano v the United Kingdom Decision of 13 April 1989 on the admissibility of the application Decisions and Reports Decisions Et Rapports in French Council of Europe pp 182 193 ISBN 9789287121608 Per ces motifs la Commission declare la requete Irrecevable at this time he used the name John a b c Devil s advocate The world s most notorious lawyer defends himself The Independent London 3 July 2008 a b Chris Barton 31 July 2004 Will the real Giovanni Di Stefano please stand up The New Zealand Herald Retrieved 24 July 2008 a b c d Investigations pile more pressure on Dundee s benefactor Scotland on Sunday 8 November 2003 a b c d e f Russell Findlay 28 December 2003 Di LAST STRAW Dundee FC Boss Says Hitler Innocent Giovanni Shows off Saddam Thrones Sunday Mail Scotland requires registration a b c Jim Cusack 18 June 2006 Millionaire lawyer certified insane here while in jail for fraud Irish Independent Vervier Cathy 4 November 2007 Chequered Career of Blackmail Case Devil s Advocate The Independent on Sunday London archived from the original on 11 April 2013 registration required Martin Brunt 15 February 2011 Wanted Devil s Advocate Lawyer Is Arrested Sky News Tom Geoghegan 31 March 2005 Jonathan King s best friend BBC News Retrieved 4 January 2010 a b Rosie Cowan 19 January 2004 I was ruined by Shipman lawyer says ex solicitor The Guardian London Michael Cieply 4 June 1990 Italian Financier Casts Shadow Over MGM UA Buyout Los Angeles Times Jason Bennetto 1 June 2005 Lawyer under British scrutiny The New Zealand Herald Retrieved 24 July 2008 Scott MacLeod 8 November 2003 Soccer team next goal for fraudster The New Zealand Herald Retrieved 24 July 2008 a b Australian Associated Press 2 July 2004 Fraudster claims to be defending Saddam Yahoo News Australia amp NZ Archived from the original on 25 April 2007 Retrieved 24 July 2008 Cudesni svet Đovanija di Stefana Afere Nedeljnik Vreme 23 April 2003 a b c d e Kim Sengupta 1 December 1999 Tycoon linked to Saddam arrested for hotel fraud Irish Independent London a b Intervista a Giovanni Di Stefano su Arkan e Milosevic I parte Fonte Lo spettro in Italian dittatore it 8 June 2002 second part Cudesni svet Đovanija di Stefana Afere Nedeljnik Vreme 23 April 2003 a b c d Giovanni Di Stefano Plaintiff Appellant v Benedict J Ferro District Director INS Rome Italy Janet Reno Attorney General Defendants Appellees 53 F 3d 338 9th Cir 1995 a b c d e Arkan murder ends mine deal Collapse of buy out threatens 450 jobs at RJB colliery The Independent London 30 January 2000 dead link David Sapsted 2 June 2001 Lawyer is cleared over hotels swindle The Daily Telegraph London Regina Van Hoogstraten v Governor of Belmarsh Prison 2003 1 WLR 264 Jeremy Johnson 5 Essex Court High Court Whether the governor of a prison was entitled to refuse to allow a prisoner to have legal visits from an Italian Avocato Steven Morris 24 September 2002 Prison ban on lawyer unlawful The Guardian London Property tycoon denied right to see lawyer The Daily Telegraph London 23 September 2002 Archived from the original on 5 May 2013 Annex 10A European Communities Services of Lawyers Order 1978 Society s Regulation Authority 1 July 2007 Archived from the original on 2 January 2008 Retrieved 5 September 2008 copy of court ruling PDF Studio Legale Internazionale Archived from the original PDF on 27 March 2009 a b c Karen Price 8 January 2004 Dirty Dosh Western Mail registration required Turner Kevin 16 January 2004 We Can t Let Just Any Old Tom Dick or Giovanni Practise Law in This Country Cops and Legal Regulators to Probe Controversial Lawyer Linked to Dundee FC over Whether He Is Qualified to Act as a Solicitor His Clients Have Included Harold Shipman and Kenneth Noye Daily Record Scotland Glasgow Retrieved 19 September 2012 needs registration Bennetto James 31 May 2005 Saddam s defender accused of falsifying his legal credentials The Independent London Archived from the original on 7 July 2009 Retrieved 12 August 2008 a b Devil s advocate The world s most notorious lawyer defends himself The Independent London 3 July 2008 Billy Briggs 28 January 2004 Judge queries di Stefano s law qualifications Who is that gentleman counsel is asked The Herald Jeremy Fleming 22 January 2004 Serial killer s legal adviser insists he has right to practise Law Society Gazette archived from the original on 18 March 2012 a b Billy Briggs 16 January 2004 Dundee board ask di Stefano to quit Maverick under investigation The Herald Archived from the original on 22 January 2016 Dutchy in court over lawyer s visit Irish Independent 16 March 2006 Ann O Loughlin 14 March 2006 Dutchy lawyer fails to clarify his status Irish Independent Diarmaid Mac Dermott 21 March 2006 Dutchy s lawyer is slammed The Mirror archived from the original on 5 November 2012 Ann O Loughlin 21 March 2010 Dutchy fails to show credentials of Italian lawyer Irish Independent Eugene Hogan 15 March 2006 Lawyer to sue Chief Justice for remark on ignorance Irish Independent Kevin McDonnell 12 November 2006 Bid to sue top judge dropped Sunday Mirror Now Di Stefano has dropped the action He said Mr Murray is a great jurist and his loss would outweigh the benefit of a victory in a defamation case Libel new Defamation Act will reverse chilling effect ministers claim The Guardian London Press Association 30 December 2013 Lawyer Giovanni di Stefano held in Spain BBC News 15 February 2011 Spain arrests lawyer linked to Saddam defense team The Associated Press 15 February 2011 Spanish police arrest Saddam s lawyer Archived 25 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine Agence France Presse 5 February 2011 a b Agencia EFE 19 February 2011 Abogado de Sadam Husein sera extraditado a Londres por supuestos 18 delitos in Spanish Angus Howarth 26 August 2011 Giovanni di Stefano case goes to Crown Court The Scotsman Edinburgh Retrieved 17 September 2011 Ex Dundee FC director and Devil s advocate to stand trial on fraud charges in 2013 STV 20 October 2011 Alan Carson 24 July 2011 Devil s advocate Giovanni di Stefano sets up online version of the News of the World Sunday Mail Larson Erik 27 March 2012 News Corp Sues Saddam s Lawyer Over News of the World Site Bloomberg Mark Sweney 30 March 2012 News International sues News of the World Online website News Group files claim against lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano and company using News of the World name The Guardian London Russell Findlay 11 March 2012 The Devil s Advocate Took Me for a Mug Exclusive Actress Rages at di Stefano Sunday Mail needs registration Tricia Walsh Smith s Official Website Videos Mr Giovanni Di Stefano v Sunday Mail Press Complaints Commission 4 May 2012 Archived from the original on 15 May 2012 Retrieved 13 May 2012 For the record News Correction notice Sunday Mail 29 April 2012 Archived from the original on 23 March 2015 Di Stefano The Devil s Advocate in the Dock Court News UK Archived from the original on 6 October 2014 Retrieved 13 April 2013 The Crown Court at Southwark Daily List for 28 January 2013 CourtServe Retrieved 29 January 2013 permanent dead link Di Stefano tells of links to Saddam bin Laden Mugabe and Milosevic The Herald 7 March 2013 a b Cheston Paul 28 March 2013 Jailed Bogus lawyer who conned 1m from clients Evening Standard London Bogus lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano convicted Crown Prosecution Service 27 March 2013 archived from the original on 10 July 2013 retrieved 7 May 2013 Liar lawyer Stefano to get extra time Sunday World Archived from the original on 6 October 2014 Retrieved 30 September 2014 first Eamon last Dillon date 4 April 2014 a b c Di Stefano on board at Dens BBC Sport 7 August 2003 Retrieved 4 January 2010 B92 reveals Arkan planned UEFA chief murder Insajder Insider B92 21 January 2008 archived from the original on 4 November 2012 Swindler di Stefano at centre of Shels shocker Irish Independent 21 April 2006 Jackson Keith Campbell Iain 13 March 1999 DUN DEAL Serb Dens link is sealed as Marr denies go ahead Daily Record Glasgow Scotland Dundee bidder claims smear campaign The Herald 26 April 1999 Article Is this any way to run a football club Scottish Daily Record amp Sunday 16 April 1999 Mike Reynolds Phil Harris June 2002 Canaries sing for stakeholder power PDF Department for Culture Media and Sport Archived from the original PDF on 30 December 2006 Retrieved 8 November 2007 a b Graham Dunbar Recipe for disaster When Saturday Comes Cobblers Deal Off BBC Sport 27 August 2002 Retrieved 5 November 2007 Di Stefano steps down BBC Sport 22 January 2004 Retrieved 5 November 2007 Martin Hannan 9 November 2003 Dual investigations pile more pressure on Dundee s beleaguered benefactor Scotland on Sunday Archived from the original on 22 January 2016 Huband Graham 23 January 2004 Di Stefano quits but still has eyes for Dundee FC The Courier Dundee Archived from the original on 2 January 2008 Retrieved 20 April 2008 Di Stefano requests Shels talks BBC Sport 20 April 2006 Retrieved 24 May 2007 Statement regarding Di Stefano s interest in investing in the club Shelbourne Football Club O Hehir Paul 4 April 2006 Waterford deny Di Stefano talks The Irish Times Drogs deny di Stefano investment talks BreakingNews ie 25 April 2006 Drogheda not for sale The Irish Times Drogheda United and Waterford United have denied having had any contact with Giovanni Di Stefano Saddam s lawyer wants to help Canaries 24 October 2007 Archived from the original on 6 July 2009 Retrieved 8 November 2007 Thomas Pitrel Pierre Boisson 2 February 2011 Di Stefano Je veux racheter l AS Monaco I want to redeem the AS Monaco in French L ASM entre les mains de l avocat du Diable The ASM in the hands of the Devil s advocate Monaco Hebdo 23 February 2011 Dan Grimmer 6 June 2019 Book shows what might have been had convicted fraudster Giovanni di Stefano taken over Norwich City Eastern Daily Press The Bird and The Feather DC Thomson p 229 a b Jason O Toole 30 August 2008 A collaboration with the sultry Italian singer JustCarmen has propelled Ireland s 60s hit machine The Bachelors back into the limelight JustCarmen I wish u love cdbaby com The Next Time CD Giovanni Di Stefano available soon Studio Legale Internazionale Archived from the original on 6 July 2009 The Next Time Limited Edition Archived 13 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine cdbaby com MacDonell Hamish 3 March 2005 Saddam s lawyer eyes Dundee poll The Scotsman Edinburgh Retrieved 20 April 2008 The Electoral Commission Register of political parties Electoral Commission register of party finances and statements of account A date with the devil s advocate Features Interview Hot Press Archived copy PDF Archived from the original PDF on 19 August 2008 Retrieved 30 December 2007 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link Gorodisky Daria Stella Gian Antonio 23 April 1999 Elezioni europee la carica dei 58 simboli Corriere della Sera A L D 16 January 1993 Oferta de Sandhurst por Viajes Melia el mismo dia que Global retira la suya ABC in Spanish p 39 Mine saved from closure BBC News 25 November 1999External links EditGiovanni Di Stefano s channel on YouTube Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Giovanni Di Stefano fraudster amp oldid 1178306782, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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