Back جيوفاني دي ستيفانو Arabic جيوفانى دى ستيفانو ARZ Giovanni di Stefano German جووانی دی استفانو Persian Giovanni di Stefano Dutch Ђовани Ди Стефано Serbian
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Giovanni Di Stefano is an Italian-British businessman and convicted fraudster. He has been involved in legal cases for high-profile and notorious defendants worldwide. He has no legal qualifications, is barred from working in law in the UK, and is not registered to work as an advocate in the UK or Italy.[1] He has been referred to as "The Devil's Advocate" for his advocacy on behalf of such notorious clients as Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milošević.[2][3] He was also a business associate of Željko Ražnatović, a Serbian paramilitary leader and indicted war criminal.[3][4]
He has been convicted four times in Ireland and the United Kingdom of fraud and related criminal offences, serving a total of eight and a half years for convictions between 1975 and the late 1980s. He was described by a judge as "one of life's great swindlers".[5] His most recent conviction was in March 2013 when he was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment after being found guilty or pleading guilty to 27 charges including deception, fraud and money laundering between 2001 and 2011 related to "tricking people into thinking he was a bona fide legal professional".[5][6]
- ^ "Bogus Italian lawyer Giovanni di Stefano is jailed for 14 years". BBC News. 28 March 2013.
- ^ Geoghegan, Tom (31 March 2005). "Jonathan King's 'best friend'". BBC News. Retrieved 24 May 2007.
- ^ a b Esther Addley (25 October 2002). "The devil's advocate". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 24 May 2007.
- ^ Cohen, Roger (20 February 1995). "Serbia Dazzles Itself: Terror Suspect Weds Singer". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 October 2008.
- ^ a b "Self-styled 'lawyer' jailed for 14 for deception, fraud and money laundering". City of London Police. 28 March 2013. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013.
- ^ "Bogus Italian lawyer Giovanni di Stefano found guilty". BBC News. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2013.