LIAR ‘LAWYER’ PANTS ON FIRE Di Stefano's life of fraud stuns court
FRAUD: Giovanni Di Stefano runs from the truth when confronted by our man Donal MacIntyre
BOGUS mob lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano ran scared from the Sunday World after being humiliated this week when a court heard details of his career as a serial fraudster.
The self-dubbed Devil's Advocate was left red-faced when we confronted him outside a UK courtroom, which had just heard how he duped clients out of hundreds of thousands of pounds by pretending to have legal qualifications.
Jurors also stifled laughter as they heard him describe Saddam Hussein as "a lovely man who noone can say a word against".
And there was shock as the trial was told how spoofing Stefano - who has duped some of the Irish media into treating him seriously as a lawyer - claimed he could have got Adolf Hitler off a war crimes rap as he had nothing to do with the holocaust.
Fraudster
But the loudmouth fraudster, who loves spoofing to gullible reporters, had nothing to say when approached by the Sunday World. Ironically, the 57-year-old conman, who loves to mingle with underworld killers and crime lords, pleaded with us to leave him alone or he would "call the police".
We can also reveal how the so-called Devil's lawyer and previously convicted fraudster - who once boasted he was worth €700m - is now living in a dilapidated, converted farm building which he laughingly describes as the centre of a global media empire.
Di Stefano denies 25 counts of deception, fraud and money laundering. The court hear how he tricked people into thinking he was a legal professional when he was "not a qualified lawyer at all". He faces a long stretch in jail if convicted. Sitting behind his qualified legal team, the once dapper businessman and advisor to the underworld bit his nails and cut a shambolic figure. And the jury at Southwark Crown Court in central London laughed while being told of his bombastic boasts about his friendship with Saddam Hussein, his defence of Adolf Hitler, and his support of fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
He also claimed to represent timeshare fraudster John 'Goldfinger' Palmer and the notorious drugs smuggler John Gilligan, as well as Harold Shipman, the UK's most prolific serial killer, and cop killer and crime godfather Kenny Noye.
His most infamous 'client' was Saddam Hussein, who in 1998 gave him a set of gold chairs and of which Di Stefano is very proud of.
Blushed
"I've always said that he's a nice guy - there isn't a person that can say a bad word about him," the court heard him say of Hussein, to the unrestrained laughter of the jury.
Shamless Di Stefano even blushed when the court heard his claims that there was no evidence that Hitler was responsible for the gassing of millions during World War II.
"Not a single document would connect Hitler with a signature or memo with those heinous crimes, and on that basis he would have been acquitted of war crimes," he said, before calling for a mock trial to establish the innocence of the German Nazi dictator.
His lies caught up with him in February of last year when he was arrested in Palma, Spain, and extradited to the UK to face a succession of criminal charges.
The legal qualifications of Di Stefano have been challenged for nearly a decade, but this is the first time that he has been charged with duping people into believing he is a lawyer.
The 57-year-old is accused of stealing €800,000 from clients while claiming to be a legitimate legal advisor.
The Court was told that Di Stefano would tell clients that he was "well connected" and extremely wealthy and would encourage the perception with offers of meetings in Rome and Portugal.
However, he is currently renting a rundown converted barn in North Stream, Marshside in the Kent Countryside.
Steps to the wooden building were in a dangerous state and weeds were abundant around the property, which now purports to be the headquarters of his new media empire.
The business, known as The Online Publishing Company, is currently being investigated in Ireland for incitement to hatred and defamation arising from the conman's outrageous and libellous attacks on anyone who has exposed his lies.
