Fastweb's founder fights money laundering charges

Italian competitive broadband provider Fastweb's founder Silvio Scaglia may have become one of Italy's richest men, but now the so-called "telecom wizard" is facing accusations that he was part of a wide-reaching money laundering scheme.   

Currently being housed in a small cell in Rome's Rebibbia jail, Scaglia is one of 56 people being investigated under a probe that includes other Fastweb employees and Telecom Italia's Sparkle unit. Italian authorities allege that Scaglia belongs to a $2.7 billion ring that laundered money through phony sales and purchases of telephone services from 2003 to 2006.

When questioned by a judge yesterday, Scaglia denied any knowledge that any illegal activity was going on at his company. "From his point of view, as head of the company his role was not to check every commercial operation that was carried out," said Scaglia Piermaria Corso in a Reuter's article.

Because of the ongoing probe, Telecom Italia SpA had to delay reporting its Q4 09 results.

For more:
- Reuters has this article

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