A former head of the Vatican bank was convicted of fraud and money laundering and sentenced to nearly nine years in prison.
Angelo Caloia, 81, was president of the bank – officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) – between 1999 and 2009. A Vatican court sentenced him on Thursday to eight years and 11 months in prison after he became the highest office. Vatican official to be convicted of a financial crime.
Gabriele Liuzzo, 97, and his son Lamberto Liuzzo, 55, both Italian lawyers who were consultants for the bank, were also convicted. The three were accused of participating in a scheme in which they embezzled money while managing the sale of an Italian property owned by the bank between 2001 and 2008.
They allegedly embezzled tens of millions of euros by declaring much less than the real value of the sale.
Gabriele Liuzzo was sentenced to the same sentence as Caloia, while Lamberto Liuzzo was sentenced to five years and two months. All denied wrongdoing during the trial, which began in 2018.