Mario Adinolfi used social media whilst under house arrest; he is now going to prison

Mario Adinolfi, who had been under house arrest since July on charges of aggravated and persistent fraud, unauthorised collection of savings, financial malpractice and failure to file tax returns, is to be sent to prison. The tightening of the conditions was carried out by officers from the Rome Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza, acting on the instructions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and was prompted by Adinolfi’s use of social media, in breach of the conditions set out in the order placing him under house arrest.

It was officers from the Rome branch of the Guardia di Finanza who executed the order issued by the Rome investigating magistrate against Adinolfi. The tightening of the measure stemmed from a ‘repeated and systematic breach of the conditions set out in the original precautionary order, which had prohibited the suspect from using, in any form, telephone, IT and telecommunications devices, with the exception of contact with his defence counsel’. The investigations carried out documented a repeated number of breaches, taking the form of social media use, which played a decisive role in the reassessment of the precautionary measures, with a further risk of the offence being repeated and a danger of evidence being compromised.

Adinolfi had been under house arrest since July, following investigations carried out by officers from the Economic and Financial Police Unit of the Guardia di Finanza in Rome, in response to numerous complaints and legal claims lodged by individuals who had entrusted the journalist with substantial sums of money in the belief that they were taking part in a ‘Betting Group’ called ‘Scommessa Collettiva’, conceived and promoted via social media, without receiving (either in full or in part) a refund of the sums paid or the promised returns. At the same time, a preventive seizure order had been issued for over 400,000 euros.