Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster): Difference between revisions

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Around 1992, the United States [[Immigration and Naturalization Service]] [[Deportation|deported]] him from the United States due to a fraud conviction on the UK on 1986. Months later he was denied re-entry. <ref name="9circuit" /> In 1995, the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit]] affirmed a district court ruling that Di Stefano did not have [[Standing (law)|standing]] to challenge it under the [[Immigration and Nationality Act]] <ref name="9circuit">{{cite court |vol = 53 |reporter = F.3d |opinion = 338 |court = 9th Cir. |date = 1995 |url=http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F3/53/53.F3d.338.94-55822.html}}</ref>though Di Stefano has been able to re-enter the US since then.{{Fact|date=August 2008}}{{dubious}}
Around 1992, the United States [[Immigration and Naturalization Service]] [[Deportation|deported]] him from the United States due to a fraud conviction on the UK on 1986. Months later he was denied re-entry. <ref name="9circuit" /> In 1995, the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit]] affirmed a district court ruling that Di Stefano did not have [[Standing (law)|standing]] to challenge it under the [[Immigration and Nationality Act]] <ref name="9circuit">{{cite court |vol = 53 |reporter = F.3d |opinion = 338 |court = 9th Cir. |date = 1995 |url=http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F3/53/53.F3d.338.94-55822.html}}</ref>though Di Stefano has been able to re-enter the US since then.{{Fact|date=August 2008}}{{dubious}}

In 2003, Giovanni Di Stefano travelled to New Zealand, where he made several multi-million bids on property. <ref name="familiarname">{{cite web | url = http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10473104 | title = Familiar name in royal case | work= NZ Herald | date = 2007-10-31 | author = [[New Zealand Press Association]] | accessdate = 2008-07-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=213&objectid=10328483 | title = 'Lawyer' under British scrutiny | author = Jason Bennetto | work = [[NZ Herald]] | date = 2005-06-01 | accessdate = 2008-07-24}}</ref><ref name="soccergoal">{{cite web | url = http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3533207 | work = [[NZ Herald]] | title = Soccer team next goal for fraudster | author = Scott MacLeod | date = 2003-11-08 | accessdate = 2008-07-24}}</ref><ref name="yahoonews" /><ref name="standup">{{cite news | url = http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3581432 | title = Will the real Giovanni Di Stefano please stand up? | work = [[NZ Herald]] | author = Chris Barton | date = 2004-07-31 | accessdate = 2008-07-24}}</ref> The authorities discovered that he had not disclosed a conviction in England in 1986, and declared him a prohibited inmigrant. <ref name="familiarname" /><ref name="yahoonews">{{cite news | url = http://web.archive.org/web/20070425033511/http://au.news.yahoo.com/040408/2/ohdb.html | title = Fraudster claims to be defending Saddam | work = Yahoo! News Australia & NZ | author = Australian Associated Press | date = 2004-07-02 | accessdate = 2008-07-24}}</ref><ref name="marsden">{{cite news | url = http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/08/1089000295725.html | title = Marsden's invitation to Baghdad | author = Kate McClymont | work = [[Sidney Morning Herald]] | date = 2004-07-09 | accessdate = 2008-07-24}}</ref>


==Other interests==
==Other interests==

Revision as of 00:03, 19 September 2008

Template:Semi

For other people named Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster), see Giovanni Di Stefano (fraudster) (disambiguation).

Giovanni Di Stefano (born July 1, 1955) is an Italian lawyer who practises in the United Kingdom. Based in Italy, he frequently works as a legal advocate in the United Kingdom, where he has made a reputation for acting in many high-profile criminal cases in England and Wales. His work defending notorious clients has earned him the nickname "The Devil's Advocate"[nb 1] by the media in Europe.[1][2] He was a business associate of Serbian paramilitary leader Arkan (Željko Ražnatović)[2] and was one of the defence team in the trial of Saddam Hussein.[3][4] He also has founded a political party, taken a considerable interest in football, and been a music producer.

Biography

Di Stefano was born in Petrella Tifernina near Campobasso in rural southern Italy. He moved to Irchester in Northamptonshire, England in 1961 at age six. [1] He gained a fortune in his twenties by importing videotapes from Hong Kong. [1]

Legal career

Di Stefano runs an international legal practice from offices in Rome, the Studio Legale Internazionale.[5] He has been involved in a number of cases in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland,[6] and is well documented in the UK media for defending "some of the country's most notorious villains",[1] and for his comment that he would "...defend Adolf Hitler or Satan."[1] Notable clients that Giovanni Di Stefano has defended include Saddam Hussein,[7][8] Tariq Aziz[9], Patrick Holland[10] Jeremy Bamber,[11] Nicholas van Hoogstraten,[12] John Gilligan[13], Charles Bronson[14], Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali, whose death sentence Di Stefano is trying to overturn[15], Gary Glitter, pop star[16] and Ian Strachan, one of the defendants in the 2007 royal blackmail plot.[17] He has also represented Ronald Biggs, one of the Great Train Robbers, in his claims for release from prison,[18] and, since at least April 2006, his law firm's website has hosted a petition to free him.[19]

In 2002 the Governor of HM Prison Belmarsh opposed Di Stefano's access to a client in prison, but the case of R (Van Hoogstraten) v Governor of Belmarsh Prison[20] in the High Court (23 September 2002) held that Di Stefano could not be denied the right to visit a client.[nb 2] On 17 March 2007 he wrote to Lord Goldsmith, at that time the Attorney General for England and Wales, asking for leave to prosecute Judge Rauf Rashid Abd al-Rahman (the judge who sentenced Saddam Hussein) under the Geneva Conventions Act 1957.[22] On January 14, 2008 he was reported as saying "Hurried justice is no justice" after a UK client who had won £1million on the National Lottery failed to attend court as a witness in an assault case. Di Stefano stated in court that she had booked a holiday to Spain before being summoned and had not been able to prepare her statement on her return, but the judge jailed her for 14 days anyway.[23]

On 15 January 2008 Di Stefano said that he knew of a sixth victim of Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley called Jennifer Tighe[24] who he said had disappeared after saying she was going to the cinema in Manchester on 30 December 1964.[25] He said he had a photo of her, and intended to speak to Brady to see if the killer would confess to this latest allegation.[26] On 21 January 2008 the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) issued a statement saying that Jennifer Tighe was alive and that the suggestion that she was a victim was speculative and had no basis in fact. The spokesman added "Mr. Di Stefano has previously made claims regarding the Moors murders in the media but has not provided any detail to Greater Manchester Police."[27]

In a statement released on his website dated 21 January 2008, Di Stefano stated and cited email correspondence with the GMP and invited them to interview his client, who he said had always been "ready, willing and able" to assist with any enquiry. He also stated that no evidence had been supplied by the GMP other than a statement that Tighe was actually alive, and invited the GMP to provide proper evidence.[28]

The Scotsman describes Di Stefano as a "colourful and often controversial lawyer";[29] The Guardian has called him "surely the only man in the world to claim the personal friendship of Saddam Hussein and the personal enmity of Delia Smith".[2]

Personal legal history

Di Stefano reports being motivated by "a sense of injustice" after his 1986 conviction for fraud "was quashed".[30] According to The Sunday Times Magazine, in 1986, Di Stefano was convicted after a 78-day trial and was jailed for five years. [31] A BBC article reports that Di Stefano says the conviction was quashed on the second appeal and that "a sense of injustice remains, making each victory against the system a sweet revenge."[30] The charges were for conspiracy to obtain property by deception and fraudulent trading.[31] On 15 January 2004 The Guardian reported[32] that Di Stefano's legal status was under investigation by the British police and the Law Society.[5] Following that investigation no action was taken against him.[nb 3]

The Scotsman has published records which it says show that Di Stefano's first attempt to appeal the conviction was dismissed.[34]

Around 1992, the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service deported him from the United States due to a fraud conviction on the UK on 1986. Months later he was denied re-entry. [35] In 1995, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that Di Stefano did not have standing to challenge it under the Immigration and Nationality Act [35]though Di Stefano has been able to re-enter the US since then.[citation needed][dubious – discuss]

Other interests

Football

In association with Arkan he purchased control of the Serbian second division football club FK Obilić;[36] within two seasons the club had won a place in the UEFA Champions League. Di Stefano announced his intention to purchase Dundee F.C. in 1999, however his bid failed due to adverse publicity.[36] In January 2001, Di Stefano announced his intention to purchase a stake in Norwich City F.C. from its former vice-chairman, however the deal failed to materialise.[37] In 2002, Di Stefano entered into talks to purchase a 60% stake in Northampton Town F.C.,[38] however Di Stefano's valuation of the club changed following an EGM, and the deal fell through.[39] Di Stefano approached the Dundee board again in 2003, and was appointed as a director on 7 August 2003.[36] Initially the club attracted big-name players such as Craig Burley and Fabrizio Ravanelli, but the club quickly ran into financial difficulties, 15 senior players were released from their contracts,[40] and Di Stefano resigned from the club on 22 January 2004.[41] In April 2005, he proclaimed an interest in investing approximately €1m in Irish football club Shelbourne F.C.,[42] but the club rejected his interest, citing his decision to let his intentions be known to the media first as the reason.[43] In October 2007, Di Stefano announced through his website his renewed interest in taking control of Norwich City F.C.[44]

Music producer

In 2007, he produced and launched Seriously Single, an album by Italian singer JustCarmen that included Everyone's Gone to the Moon, a track written by Jonathan King, who gave permission for its use. Stefano's idea was to put a relatively unknown singer into the studio with recordings of big stars from the past. Featured artists included The Bachelors, Elvis Presley and Al Martino.[45][46][47]

Founder of political party

In April 2004, Di Stefano founded a political party,[48] the Radical Party of Great Britain, by registering it at the Electoral Commission with himself as its leader,[49] but the party fielded no candidates in the 2005 general election, the 2008 London Assembly election, or the 2008 local elections.

In a November 2007 interview with Dublin's Hot Press magazine, Di Stefano is reported as expressing an interest in running in the Republic of Ireland in the European Union elections with an anti-immigration manifesto.[nb 4]

Complaint against Wikipedia

On 2 July 2008, Irish magazine Hot Press reported Di Stefano's claim that he had lodged a formal complaint to the Rome Public Prosecutor alleging defamation committed against him by representatives of the Wikimedia Foundation and several editors who had edited the article about him. [50] Di Stefano explained that, unlike other EU states, under Italian law defamation is a criminal offence. [50]

References

Notes

  1. ^ The sobriquet The Devil's advocate has been used by the European press to describe not only Giovanni Di Stefano but also Jacques Verges.
  2. ^ The right of a qualified European Union lawyer to practise in a country other than their country of origin is governed by the provisions of the (United Kingdom) European Communities (Services of Lawyers) Order 1978 (SI 1978/1910) (Amended 2004).[[21]
  3. ^ "A spokesman for the City of London Police said: 'We are not prepared to confirm or deny whether we have an investigation at this stage.'"—The Independent (see paragraph 11)[33]
  4. ^ "I'm going to run in Ireland in the European elections. You better believe it. I'm perfectly entitled in the European election to run in any EU state. You don't need to be resident or Irish. I will take my seat in Ireland because a lot of people will follow me. We are not a right-wing party. We may be radical in name but not in nature. One of the things we'll have to deal with, as a matter of urgency, is immigration. That is the key thing because otherwise you are going to dilute Irish blood to such an extent that you'll almost wish that Cromwell hadn't got ill!" -- Paid access. A free PDF version of the article is hosted at Di Stefano's website.

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e "Jonathan King's 'best friend'". BBC News. 2005-03-31. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  2. ^ a b c Esther Addley (2002-10-25). "The devil's advocate". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  3. ^ Saddam's attorney: 'When is this man going to be charged?'
  4. ^ "CNN transcript: "Case Against Saddam; Behind the Verdict"". CNN. Aired 14 June 2005. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ a b Cowan, Rosie (2004-01-21). "Fraudster lawyer's claim to act for Shipman is bogus, says family's solicitor". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  6. ^ "studiolegaleinternazionale: Cases list". Retrieved 2007-12-29.
  7. ^ AP Photo/Mohammad abu Ghosh. "Photograph". Giovanni di Stefano, a defence lawyer for Saddam Hussein, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in the Jordanian capital of Amman, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2006.
  8. ^ Gunmen kill Saddam lawyer
  9. ^ Iraq: Ex-deputy PM is innocent, says defence lawyer
  10. ^ "Five guilty of £10m kidnap plot". BBC News. 2008-04-28. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  11. ^ BBC article and video interview for HARDtalk by David Jessel (first broadcast 2004-03-25)
  12. ^ "Hoogstraten to fight conviction". BBC NEWS. March 12, 2003. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ Shelbourne scraps talks with controversial Di Stefano
  14. ^ Visiting time: Charles Bronson invites us into his cell
  15. ^ Charles Bronson faces parole hearing
  16. ^ Glitter planning move here 'as soon as he can'
  17. ^ Cathy Vervier (November 4, 2007). "Checkered career of blackmail case 'devil's advocate'". Independent UK. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ "Biggs' bid for Christmas release". BBC News. April 4, 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ "Internet Archive Wayback Machine". Retrieved 2008-05-01. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  20. ^ Regina (Van Hoogstraten) v Governor of Belmarsh Prison [2003] 1 WLR 264
  21. ^ ""Annex 10A European Communities (Services of Lawyers) Order 1978"". Society's Regulation Authority. 2007-07-01. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  22. ^ "Prosecuting Saddam's trial judge in the UK". JURIST. 2007-04-27. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  23. ^ "Jailed lotto winner loses appeal". BBC News. 2008-01-14. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  24. ^ "'Jennifer sixth Myra victim'". 2008-01-16. Retrieved 2008-01-17.
  25. ^ "Did Myra Hindley murder 17 more children?". 2008-01-20. Retrieved 2008-01-20.
  26. ^ "'Sixth' Myra victim identified". 2008-01-15. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
  27. ^ Moors murder 'victim' is 'alive - Accessed January 26, 2008
  28. ^ Studio Legale Internazionale (Jan 21 entry)
  29. ^ Wright, Angus (2003-12-04). "Marr brothers promise to write off Dundee debts". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2007-12-29.
  30. ^ a b Tom Geoghegan (March 31, 2005). "Jonathan King's 'best friend'". BBC News. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  31. ^ a b Russell Miller (August 21, 2005). "A law unto himself". Times Online (www.timesonline.co.uk). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  32. ^ Cowan, Rosie (2004-01-15). "Police probe Shipman lawyer claim". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  33. ^ Bennetto, James (2005-05-31). "Saddam's defender accused of falsifying his legal credentials". The Independent. Retrieved 2008-08-12. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  34. ^ Hannan, Martin (2003-10-12). "Giovanni Di Stefano: The Truth". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2007-12-29.
  35. ^ a b 53 F.3d 338 (9th Cir. 1995).
  36. ^ a b c "Di Stefano on board at Dens". BBC Sport.
  37. ^ "Canaries sing for stakeholder power" (PDF). Department of Culture, Media and Sport. June 2002. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
  38. ^ "Arkan's lawyer has ambitions to take over Northampton". The Independent. 2002-05-22. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  39. ^ "Cobblers Deal Off". BBC Sport. 2002-08-27. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  40. ^ "Di Stefano steps down". BBC Sport. 2004-01-22. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  41. ^ Huband, Graham (2004-01-23). "Di Stefano quits but still has eyes for Dundee FC". The Courier. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  42. ^ "Di Stefano requests Shels talks". BBC Sport. 2006-04-20. Retrieved 2007-05-24.
  43. ^ "Statement regarding Di Stefano's interest in investing in the club". Shelbourne Football Club.
  44. ^ "Saddam's lawyer wants to help Canaries". 2007-10-24. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
  45. ^ The Independent May 14, 2007, p16 Devi's Advocate takes his case to the charts
  46. ^ The Daily Star May 15, 2007
  47. ^ News of the World p.37 May 20, 2007
  48. ^ MacDonell, Hamish (2005-03-03). "Saddam's lawyer eyes Dundee poll". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  49. ^ "The Electoral Commission Register of political parties".
  50. ^ a b Jason O'Toole (2008-07-07). "Wikipedia Faces Legal Battle". Retrieved 2008-07-20. Free-access copy at Di Stefano's law firm website.

External links


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