The husband of Greece's National Natural Gas System Operator CEO was arrested in Athens for fraud
The husband of the managing director of Greece's National Natural Gas System Operator-DESFA was arrested in Athens by Greek police in cooperation with the Italian financial police (Guardia di Finanza), against whom there were pending court cases and a conviction for six years in prison.
As Italy's Il Giorno reports, Francesco Acerbi was sentenced to six years in prison for disappearing with millions of euros entrusted to him by 13 wealthy Italian families. He was arrested in Athens by order of the Milan prosecutor Roberta Colangelo and is now awaiting extradition to be sent to an Italian prison to serve his sentence, but also to stand trial for fraud against a client and for the bankruptcy of his company, Advisory.
According to the Italian publication, he has already been convicted in the first instance for both of these cases, but his trial in the second degree is pending.
Who is Francesco Acerbi?
54-year-old Francesco Akerbi from Cremona is married to Maria Rita Galli, managing director of DESFA. He has worked as a financial advisor, but in the past he had practiced the profession without the necessary licenses.
He had managed to attract some wealthy investors who had entrusted him with a total of 165 million euros. With the help of a secretary, who has pleaded guilty, he had begun forging his clients' signatures on purchase contracts, without the parties knowing anything.
He was sentenced in the first and second degree to imprisonment for more than six years. About a year ago, however, on the eve of the validation of the decision by the Supreme Court, Acerbi disappeared.
However, the Guardia di Finanza had never stopped looking for him, finding – as noted by Il Giorno – traces of him in Greece, where his wife works and lives. He was found at his wife's house where he was arrested by the Greek police, who picked him up and took him to the detention center, awaiting his extradition.
- Published in Greece
