ROME
U.S. News
By Philip Pullella
ROME (Reuters) – Investigating magistrates in Italy on Tuesday froze millions of euros worth of assets belonging to a prominent Italian banker they believe used the Vatican bank and another Holy See financial department for market manipulation.
The financial crimes police said in a statement that they had executed the magistrates’ orders, sequestering 2.5 million euros ($2.64 million) in buildings, stocks and land belonging to Giampietro Nattino, head of Banca Finnat Euramerica SpA. [BFE.MI]
Magistrates accuse him of market manipulation and providing false information to Consob, Italy’s stock regulator.
Nattino said in a statement that the frozen assets belonged to him personally and not to his bank, and that he would cooperate with investigators.
Shares in his private bank fell 3.6 percent before recovering some of that loss.
Tuesday’s developments followed an exclusive report by Reuters in November, 2015 about a Vatican investigation into Nattino’s accounts at the Vatican bank, known as the Institute for Works of Religion, and at APSA, an office that oversees Vatican real estate and investments. http://reut.rs/2m7SvYh
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