VATICAN CITY (CNS): Insurance commissioners of five US states are suing the Vatican over an alleged fraud scheme run by a financier who is in jail awaiting trial.
The Vatican has denied all involvement in the scheme run by Martin Frankel.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said on May 15 that it had given ‘the information it had to the Attorney-General of the state of Mississippi’.
The insurance commissioners of Mississippi, Tennessee, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas filed a lawsuit in a federal court on May 9 accusing the Vatican and Msgr Emilio Colagiovanni of racketeering and fraud.
The lawsuit claims that Frankel, who is in jail awaiting trial on charges of racketeering, fraud and conspiracy of more than $200 million from insurance companies, was aided by Msgr Colagiovanni and by the Holy See in purchasing the companies.
Frankel’s lawyer said on May 15 that he would plead guilty to racketeering, conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud.
Msgr Colagiovanni, 82, a retired judge of a Vatican court, was arrested in the United States in 2001 on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money. He is awaiting trial on the charges.
