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.
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