London Deal: Secret Audio Recordings Published by Unidentified Person

Oligarch Corriere.it (October 19) published excerpts of a covert audio recording of a December 2018 meeting between three key figures in the Vatican’s London property deal.

The three are Gianluigi Torzi, Fabrizio Tirabassi, and Enrico Crasso. They met at the five-star Bulgari Hotel in Milan.

Tirabassi, a lay official at the Secretariat of State, thanked the broker Torzi for helping the Vatican to assume the full ownership of the London property two weeks earlier.

He warned Torzi that the Vatican could soon centralise its finances which would weaken the authority of the Secretariat of State and would "not be good" for Torzi.

Torzi then wanted to be paid up to €10 millions for his services.

Crasso, the Vatican's longtime investment manager, tried to mediate suggesting a pay-off for Torzi between 6 and 10 million. In May 2019, he received €15 million.

Torzi was arrested on June 5 for his role in the deal but released under bail ten days later.

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