Gang tricks German into 'buying' US embassy

A group of con artists has gone on trial for allegedly tricking a German businessman out of €1.3 million, by pretending to sell him the US embassy and the UN food agency headquarters.

Wolfang Kroll, 57, appeared in a Rome court along with three accomplices on Friday, Corriere della Sera reported.The group stands accused of scamming a German businessman out of €1.3 million in 2008, in a series of fake business deals to buy key buildings in Rome.

Kroll, also German, presented himself as a real estate broker with prized property in his hands. He allegedly approached the businessman, a Monaco resident, by first offering to sell the Porta di Roma shopping centre.With the help of Donato Perazzolo, a fake bank representative, Kroll was able to convince their victim to send €400,000 to buy the Rome complex.

When it came to buying up the US embassy building on Via Veneto, and the headquarters of the UN food agency, Fao, the con artists needed more help. Walter Baccini was brought in to impersonate a government official, while Anna Lisa Morganti is also accused of taking part in the scam.

The price of the embassy was set at €580,000, while Fao was supposedly on sale for €600,000. The German businessman transferred a further €900,000 to the group, before realizing he had been tricked.

The case has seen the gang’s leader dubbed the “Totò of Bavaria”, a nod to the Italian film Tototruffa 62 in which the main character sells Rome’s Trevi Fountain to an unsuspecting tourist.

Parma boss arrested for money laundering

The owner of cash-strapped Parma football club, Giampietro Manenti, was arrested on Tuesday morning for alleged money laundering.

Arrest warrants were also issued for 21 others accused of embezzlement, money laundering, using cloned cards and autoriciclaggio, a new crime through which money or assets obtained illegally are transferred through a third person to cover-up their criminal origins.

The crime was introduced last year to better connect the chain of criminality and give authorities greater powers to act against those involved. Italy’s financial police on Tuesday said people arrested for the crime had used "mafia methods" but did not elaborate on what exactly.

Manenti's detention comes a day before a court hearing in which Parma, facing debts of €100 million, could be declared bankrupt. The club last month said it was too broke to pay stadium stewards, while players have gone on strike over delayed salaries.

Former Chelsea winger Salomon Kalou facing €10,000 fine for vandalising for Berlin Wall

The Ivorian, 29, now at Budesliga club Hertha Berlin was apparently filmed by national broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenbury (rbb) breaking off a piece of the wall using a hammer and chisel

But what remains of the Berlin Wall, which divided Germany`s capital from 1961-89, has been under a protection order since 1991.

Anyone defacing it can be heavily fined with the authorities set to investigate whether any damage was done.

"I nearly fell off the sofa when I saw the footage," Kani Alavi, the chairman of the Eastside Gallery, told the Berliner Kurier newspaper.

"Here we have a well-paid celebrity increasing his market value at the expense of a national monument. Without respect. And with the clear backing of television.

"Just because there is no security patrolling the Gallery, doesn`t mean you can go around doing what you want.

"If he had done that at the Brandenburg Gate, the player would probably have been arrested."