Michele Sindona
Michele Sindona (1920–1986) was an Italian banker and a member of P2. He was convicted of financial crimes in the United States in 1980 and sentenced to life imprisonment in Italy in 1986 for ordering the murder of the lawyer Giorgio Ambrosoli.[1][2][3]
Banking career and P2
Sindona acquired control of the Banca Privata Finanziaria in 1960 and later expanded his interests in Italian and international finance. The failure of his banking businesses in 1974 led to investigations in Italy and the United States.[4]
Rai's historical archive identifies Sindona as a member of P2, as does an INSEAD study published in 1990. Marco Magnani's scholarly biography describes the support he sought from Licio Gelli and the P2 network after his financial collapse, including efforts to resist extradition from the United States.[1][5][4]
United States convictions
On 27 March 1980 a federal jury convicted Sindona on 65 counts. The offences included conspiracy, securities fraud, misapplication of funds, false entries in bank records and perjury. On 13 June he received a sentence of 25 years' imprisonment and a fine of $207,000.[2]
The prosecution concerned transactions involving Franklin National Bank and related companies. The appellate judgment records that the jury acquitted Sindona on one of the 66 counts submitted to it. On 18 December 1980 the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed his conviction.[6]
The Ambrosoli case and death
Giorgio Ambrosoli was appointed liquidator of Banca Privata Italiana in 1974. He investigated Sindona's banking affairs and was murdered in July 1979. On 18 March 1986 Sindona was sentenced to life imprisonment for ordering the killing.[4][3]
Sindona died from cyanide poisoning at Voghera on 22 March 1986, while in custody. Accounts of the circumstances differ: Rai's archive describes the death as unresolved, while Magnani's biography describes suicide. The fact of poisoning should therefore be distinguished from claims about how and why it occurred.[1][4]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Rai Teche, Il caso Sindona, 8 May 2020.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 United States Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC News Digest, 22 July 1980, p. 1, “Sindona sentenced to 25 years imprisonment”.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Rai Cultura, Ergastolo per Sindona e Venetucci, historical chronology, 18 March 1986.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Marco Magnani, Sindona, Michele, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 92 (2018).
- ↑ Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries, Leaders on the Couch: The Case of Roberto Calvi, INSEAD working paper 90/40/OB (1990), PDF page 25, on Sindona's P2 membership.
- ↑ United States v. Sindona, 636 F.2d 792, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 18 December 1980.
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