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Vatican down £100million after buying London property from trustworthy looking Italian banker.
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2021-11-10 at 2:11 PM UTC
Raffaele MincioneAfter a scandal that has dragged on for more than a year and led to the firing of one of the Holy See's most senior officials over a handful of shady London property deals that were bleeding millions in losses, the Vatican has finally decided to rip the bandaid off and sell a luxury office building in London's Knightsbridge neighborhood for a loss of £100MM ($135MM). Bain Capital and Savills, which is managing the sale, both declined to comment. Senior Holy See officials - including Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, the second-in-command of the Vatican's powerful Secretariat of State - invested a total of €350MM ($405MM) of money donated to the Catholic Church for charitable purposes in London properties including the Sloane Ave. building between 2014 and 2018.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/vatican-loses-135m-shady-london-property-deal-amid-allegations-massive-fraud
Vatican investigators say the money was taken from Peter’s Pence, an annual donation given by Catholics around the world which, according to the Vatican, is intended "for the many different needs of the universal church and for the relief of those most in need."
Per the FT, the Vatican is in the final stages of selling 60 Sloane Ave., a large building in the Knightsbridge district of London, for about £200MM ($271MM) to private equity group Bain Capital.
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Vatican prosecutors earlier this year charged Raffaele Mincione, a former Italian banker, with various crimes including fraud and embezzlement.
Mincione’s companies acquired the London building in 2012 for £129m. Two years later a unit of the Vatican managing charitable donations bought a stake in the property via an investment fund founded by Mincione at a far higher valuation. The Vatican acquired the rest of the building in 2018.
Vatican prosecutors say Mincione’s companies made a large profit from investing in the Knightsbridge building.
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Mincione, the banker, has seen nearly €50MM of his assets frozen in Switzerland at the Vatican's request. Meanwhile, Mincione's lawyers are trying to press a parallel case in the English High Court to try and un-freeze the assets. He claims Vatican officials are responsible for the loss, while prosecutors claim the loss was a result of a complicated fraud.
Whatever actually happened, one thing is clear: More than $100MM intended to go to the Catholic Church's various ministries and missions has instead been siphoned off by greedy bankers and officials. -
2021-11-10 at 3:02 PM UTCthose monies are supposed to go to cleregy sex abuse victims.
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2021-11-10 at 3:18 PM UTCGood.
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2021-11-10 at 3:56 PM UTChow is that even fraud? Overvaluing a building so you can sell it for more is the cornerstone of realty. That's why there are inspectors and property assessments.
They have no idea what they are doing and the only reason they got the guys SWISS BANK ACCOUNT frozen is because of their political pull.
That's pretty fucking scummy, reminds me of when the catholic church controlled all of politics for Europe. Except instead of power they use victimization to get what they want.
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2021-11-10 at 3:58 PM UTC
Originally posted by the man who put it in my hood how is that even fraud? Overvaluing a building so you can sell it for more is the cornerstone of realty. That's why there are inspectors and property assessments.
They have no idea what they are doing and the only reason they got the guys SWISS BANK ACCOUNT frozen is because of their political pull.
That's pretty fucking scummy, reminds me of when the catholic church controlled all of politics for Europe. Except instead of power they use victimization to get what they want.
it is when your the seller, the appraiser and the banker all at the same time.
