AUSTRALIA
The New Daily
May 6, 2018
Lucie Morris-Marr
A series of mysterious adverts are encouraging supporters to donate to a “trust fund” to help Cardinal George Pell pay for a top legal team to fight the abuse allegations against him.
Bank details of the fund, run by a Melbourne-based solicitor, are included in the adverts which have appeared in Catholic newsletters, magazines and websites around the world.
Mystery still surrounds who sent the adverts – which all share similar wording – and whether they were part of a co-ordinated campaign.
One of the adverts posted on the website of the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat says the bank account details were “provided by Cardinal Pell’s staff at the Sydney Archdiocese”.
All of the adverts go on to say that funds can be deposited into a Bendigo Bank account run by Ferdinand Zito and Associates, a law firm with a small office next to a post office in the Melbourne suburb of Ivanhoe East.
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