Italian charged with fraud pleads guilty for theft of literary works

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
7 Jan 10:51

Bernardini began to scam authors in 2016 and up to his arrest, he continued to create accounts similar to those of real people but with a slight change in email addresses.

Filippo Bernardini. (Facebook)

An Italian citizen nicknamed the "Arsene Lupin of literature" for duping hundreds of authors into sending him their unpublished works pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on Friday, federal prosecutors in New York announced in a statement.

Some of the notable authors whom the scammer, Filippo Bernardini, reportedly scammed include Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan, and Sally Rooney, reports say.

The 30-year-old man worked for London-based publishing house Simon and Schuster, and for years has impersonated agents and publishers to steal the works of other writers.

He reportedly used fake accounts to contact the authors but never asked for money, nor did he ever publish the works online or on the dark web.

Bernardini began to scam authors in 2016 and up to his arrest, he continued to create accounts similar to those of real people but with a slight change in email addresses.

According to prosecutors, he registered more than 160 fraudulent domains.

"Filippo Bernardini used his insider knowledge of the publishing industry to create a scheme that stole precious works from authors and menaced the publishing industry," said Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY).

Bernardini was arrested last year on January 6 at New York's JFK airport by FBI agents.

His crimes carry a maximum 20 years of prison time, and he will also have to pay restitution totaling $88,000.

On his LinkedIn profile, it says that Bernardini worked as a "rights coordinator" at Simon & Schuster. It also says that he earned a bachelor's degree in Chinese language in Milan and a master's in publishing from UCL.

Simon & Schuster said in a statement it was "shocked and horrified to learn of the allegations." "Protection of authors' intellectual property is of the highest priority for Simon & Schuster," the publisher said in a statement Friday, adding, "We are grateful to the FBI and Department of Justice for its defense and support of the intellectual property rights of authors throughout the world."