Friday, 28 March 2014. According to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica Berlusconi's favourite night dancer Karima El Mahroug (aka Ruby the Heart Stealer) has started a new life, taking expensive holidays, developing a luxury resort in Mexico and investing in property in the Middle East. Where did she get the money from?
Ruby the Heart Stealer (real name Karima El-Mahroug) having pretty good time in Mexico (Playa
del Carmen's beach)
Now, in 2010 the prosecutors in charge with the sex scandal trial (the result of the so-called Rubygate investigation) intercepted a phone conversation when Ruby – talking to a friend – said that she had received €5 million from the billionaire (which is roughly £4.1m or $6.9). Later on the Moroccan erotic dancer (and call-girl, if you listen to Milan's judges), said that all that stuff (and other stuff she had been telling the judges) was just a made-up show off and she had been “talking crap”, and so on.
Thursday, 23 January 2014. Silvio Berlusconi – who has already been given a 7-year sentence – risks to get more as prosecutors investigate over accusations he and his lawyers corrupted witnesses of the sex scandal trial.
The investigations over the alleged prostitution ring set by Mr Berlusconi aren't finished yet, we are now in the so-called phase three - according to the news -, aka Rubygate ter or Rubygate 3.0 (the name originates from Ruby the Heartstealer, the nom de guerre – the real name is Karima El Mahroug - of the girl who apparently had sex with the politician when still a teenager).
Silvio Berlusconi faces yet another investigation linked to the bunga-bunga sex scandal
The two previous spells of the proceedings were pretty disastrous for the former prime minister and his friends... With the first episode of the sex scandal trial, Berlusconi won a 7-year sentence (child prostitution and abuse of office), with the second stint – the Ruby-bis - it was his protégé Nicole Minetti and one of his friends and employee Emilio Fede who received a conviction. 7 years apiece, details in our post (click here to read it).
Thursday, 2 January 2014. Silvio Berlusconi appeals against his conviction for paying for sex with a minor and abuse of office, nasty things he did when Prime Minister of Italy, according to judges.
Berlusconi just couldn't resist teenage Ruby's charm
Silvio Berlusconi was given a 7-year sentence in the end of June 2013 for having sex with a minor (the nightclub dancer and stripper Karima El Mahroug, better known as Ruby the Heartstealer, her stage name) and for abusing of his office as a prime minister, when he tried to cover the story that threaten to become public, as the young girl was stopped by the police. Berlusconi personally phoned the policemen, saying that they better release Ruby into the safe hands of show-girl-turned-into-politician Nicole Minetti (the attractive young woman will also get a 7-year sentence – later on – for procuring women for the former Italian prime minister's bunga-bunga parties in Villa San Martino), since it seemed she's the nephew of Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak.
Ruby the Heartstealer received from Silvio Berlusconi "money and jewellery" in exchange for sex, according to Milan's judges
Thursday, 21 November 2013. Milan's court publishes details of Berlusconi conviction, is bunga bunga parties and his exchange of money and jewellery for sex with under-age dancer Karima el Mahroug (aka Ruby the Heart Stealer).
The proceedings about the sex scandal that involved Silvio Berlusconi ended up with a seven-year sentence, appeal pending. It's no more on the news, as it happened last June, but now new details have been disclosed about the sex scandal, as the Milan's court published a 350-page document about testimonies, bunga bunga parties and – of course – lots of women. The former prime minister of Italy will also be banned from public office for life (if he fails to win the appeal to the sentence), a problem that adds up to Berlusconi's woes: on Wednesday the Senate will decide whether to expel him from the Italian parliament, in the wake of his conviction for tax fraud (no appeal pending, this one is definitive).
Saturday, 7 September 2013. Barbara Berlusconi, in an interview with Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, says that a lobby is trying do to her father in.
Barbara Berlusconi with her father Silvio
Barbara Berlusconi was at the business workshop in Cernobbio's beautiful Villa d'Este, when she was reached by a quite unusual interviewer, the (former?) confidante of her mother Veronica Lario (the interview was published by Rome's newspaper Il Messaggero), asking Barbara to comment the Silvio Berlusconi's legal woes and take a stance in the entangled situation of Italian politics. «The story of my father and of my family is not that of a handful of tax evaders. [...] The story of Silvio Berlusconi can not end in shame» she said, referring to the recent conviction of the media tycoon for tax fraud, «There are those who want to hunt my father from politics for their own interests.
Nicole Minetti in court (here you can find out-of-the-court photos of Nicole Minetti
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was the first to be convicted in connection with the infamous bunga-bunga parties, he has been sentenced to seven years, together with a lifetime ban on holding public office. Berlusconi's sentenced was based on charges of abuse of power (as a PM) and paying for sex a minor prostitute, namely the 17-year-old Moroccan nightclub dancer Karima El Mahroug (generally known as Ruby the Heartstealer). Berlusconi denies having had sex for money at all (with any woman in the world, for that matters: he does not need any money to lay females!), denies abuse of power charges (it was just a nice phone call to a police station, to ask agents to release Ruby the Heartstealer, saying that she was the granddaughter of
Wednesday, 10 July 2013. A decision by the Court of Cassation – which sets for as early as 30 July Silvio Berlusconi's tax fraud appeal hearing – gets Italy's political life in turmoil ignited also by newspapers' aggressive headlines.
"State bandits"
“State bandits” reads Berlusconi's family newspaper Il Giornale (“The Newspaper”) today's headline with a list of evidence items (34 trials, 0 definitive sentences, and so on), showing how ballistic the former prime minister intends to go in his fighting the 20 Year's War against the Italian judiciary, which is guilty of having anticipated the appeal hearings, (allegedly) in order to avoid any risk of statute of limitations that might influence some of the charges in September.
Mr Berlusconi's entourage – amongst them the newspaper's editor Allesandro Sallusti - obviously counted on the fact that the media tycoon would by saved by the bell (namely the statue of limitation).
Tue, 25 June 2013. As Silvio Berlusconi is sentenced to seven years in jail and ban from holding public office prison (for having had sex with a under-age prostitute and having tried to deceive a bunch of policemen about her identity, with a prank phone call) the Italian judiciary is keeping by five more judicial trials for the former PM of Italy. Not all of them involving women.
One of the rare occasions when Silvio Berlusconi showed up in court
Silvio Berlusconi has barely time to swallow the heavy sentence given by Milan's magistrates (they took seriously prosecutor's theory about Silvio being the head of a prostitution ring, didn't they?), that he will need a bit of luck and concentration to dodge the incoming threats from the judiciary, a gymkhana (since Silvio reckon it's a war, he might prefer to call a campaign) of proceedings starting already... tomorrow!
Mon, 24 June 2013. Berlusconi found guilty of having abused power and had sex with a under-age prostitute, sentenced to seven years in jail.
After more than seven hours of deliberation, today Milan's court judges sentenced to seven years in jail the 76-year old former prime minister of Italy guilty of a couple of charges related to the Rubygate (the inquiry about the Moroccan belly dancer - and allegedly whore - Karima El Mahroug ).
7-year jail sentence for Mr Berlusconi
The sentence involves a ban from holding
public office for life. All this pending the outcome of an appeal.
Friday, 7 June, 2013. At the Ruby 2 trial Nicole Minetti denies having had “sex for money” and reveals that it was “true love” if she was hosted by Silvio Berlusconi at his villa(s), and reveals unprecedented “media aggression followed by a wave of scorn” against her.
Nicole Minetti in court
On 31 May prosecutors hinted that Nicole Minetti had being “performing sexual acts for money” in Silvio Berlusconi's villa(s), apparently with the former prime minister, during a trial – dubbed Ruby 2, from the name of the main character involved and because the Ruby #1 is the trial against Silvio himself – where Nicole is a defendant, together with Lele Mora and Emilio Fede.
Nicole Minetti is charged with “induction into prostitution”, as a organiser of bunga-bunga parties and recruiter of prostitutes (among them under-age belly dancer Karima El Mahroug aka Ruby the Heartstealer, nickname that dubbed the related proceedings). Proceedings are slowed down by many obstacles, Karima El Mahroug numerous lies didn't help much. but proceedings are always slow in Italy, aren't they? Prosecution asked for a 7-year sentence.
Friday, 31 May, 2013. During the closing arguments of the Ruby case, prosecutors asked for 7-year sentences for any of the Silvio Berlusconi 's friends involved in bunga-bunga parties and related sex scandal, for different reasons, as they illustrated.
Nicole Minetti seems to say: “Sex for money? Me?
Are you serious?”
Nicole Minetti, former regional councillor, showgirl and model (and - according to her - former girlfriend of Silvio Berlusconi), apart for having fulfilled tasks of “intermediation” in the fixing of the bunga-bunga parties, had an active role by “performing sexual acts for money”, according to prosecutor Antonio Sangermano, while women-connoisseurs “associates” Dario Gabriele “Lele” Mora and Emilio Fede “tested – or tasted - the pleasantness of the girls, checked their social-relational skills and then led into the circuit of the evenings” at Berlusconi's villa in Arcore.
They all deserve a reclusion of 7 years, according to the Public Prosecutor.
Sun, 12 May, 2013. Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset broadcaster Canale 5 airs a two-hour documentary to demonstrate prosecutors sex-related charges against the former prime minister are groundless (at least to the public opinion), as a last act of a counteroffensive against the Italian judiciary.
All but chaste
“The twenty years' war” is the title of a two-hour documentary, that was aired on Sunday, the day before the prosecutor's closing arguments would be declared at the Rubygate sex scandal trial (the request would be a 6-year sentence), where Silvio Berlusconi is accused of abuse of power and having paid the then-minor Karima El-Mahroug (aka Ruby Heartstealer, Ruby Rubacuori in Italian) for sex.
Silvio Berlusconi's stand is that the dinners where young girls and women were invited (some of them were just kept at hand in the bunga-bunga army) were pretty “normal soirées” and that his guests “kept their cloths on”. Nicole Minetti was not an organiser (was she his grilfriend at that time, as she declared?). Prosecution thinks he has been running a prostitution ring. So far they have been finding it difficult to reconcile the two different positions.
Thu, 11 April, 2013. Francesco Chiesa Soprani, former agent of Silvio Berlusconi's protégé Naomi Letizia, says in an interview that the former prime minister had sex with the girl when she was under-age.
As
some of you might remember, Silvio Berlusconi's second wife Veronica Lario decided to reveal to the public that his husband was “a sick
man in need of help“ because of his “uncontrollable” yearning
for women (and – at the same time - decided to start separation
proceedings) when the former prime minister of Italy attended to
young model Noemi Letizia's 18th birthday party in Naples.
Though
the story was never forgot, nobody knew exactly until what extent the
relationship between a minor girl and a elderly man she called “papi”
(when Noemi got 18, Silvio was 73) was inappropriate.
Fri, 22 March, 2013. Silvio Berlusconi is portrayed as a driver of a Ford Figo who “leaves his worries behind”, symbolised by Ruby the Heartstealer, Francesca Pascale and Nicole Minetti tied up and gagged in the boot of the car.
The infamous advert created for Ford India,
with Karima-Ruby, Francesca and Nicole
A drawing appearing on the Ford Figo's ad by Ford India Ltd shows three curvaceous women – namely belly dancer Karima El Mahroug aka Ruby the Heart Breaker, Silvio Berlusconi's girlfriend Francesca Pascale and (former) sweetheart Nicole Minetti – hands a feet tied, muzzled, in the rear booth of a red car, whilst the former Italian prime minister is sitting in front of the vehicle, at the wheel, smiling and showing the V sign.
«Leave your worries behind with Figo's extra-large boot» reads the claim on the bottom of the page, obviously referring to Silvio's headaches about bunga-bunga parties, sex scandal trials, and other matters related to women.
Not exactly something that Berlusconi would find funny – we presume – and not exactly something in a good taste – we might say – considering the poor record of India in terms of behaviour of men towards women.
Monday,
4 March, 2013. Silvio Berlusconi has been running a prostitution
ring, according to prosecutors' final arguments in the last episode
of the Rubygate sex scandal related proceedings.
Karima El-Mahroug, aka Ruby the Heart Stealer
Silvio
Berlusconi is on trial – he managed to postpone the proceeding, due
to the general elections, but now he is running out of excuses... -,
since he is accused of soliciting an under-age prostitute (the
Moroccan Karima el-Mahroug, also known as Ruby Rubacuori i.e. Ruby
Heart Stealer) and for abuse of power, for having managed to free the
aforementioned Ruby Heart Stealer from the strong arm of the law,
and ushered her into the hands of Milan's municipality's councillor (party-organizer and part-time bikini-model) Nicole Minetti, by illicit means (amongst them he apparently said to the police
that Karima-Ruby - apparently - was the granddaughter of Egypt's former dictator
Hosni Mubarak).
Silvio Berlusconi heading to the court
By
doing this, Silvio – who at the time was Italy's prime minister –
recruited the Moroccan belly-dancer (and alleged call girl) into the
bunga-bunga army, a bunch of young women - the bunga-bunga girls - to be used for entertainment
during parties in his villa in Arcore. The women used to get a bed
where to sleep, 2,500 euro a month ($3,250 or £2,160), plus gifts
and presents in case of birthdays or name days.
The
prosecutor – Antonio Sangermano – said that Karima El-Mahroug
(who was 17, when first attended a so-called bunga-bunga party) was
"an integral part" of a "complex prostitution ring".
In the next days the prosecutors will publish the requested sentence,
the defence will reply on 11 March, and on 18 March the trail will
end with a verdict.
All
this is hardly likely to help the difficult relationship between the
former premier of Italy and the Italian Judiciary, which – according
to Silvio Berlusconi – is «more dangerous than the Sicilian Mafia,».
Thursday,
December 20, 2012. Silvio Berlusconi-s owned gossip magazine attempts
to delegitimize a magistrate looking into sex-scandal trial by
denigrate her socks. It's not the first time they resort to this
extreme measure, Italian judges should pay more attention to the
colour of their socks, experts say.
Ilda Boccassini doing work
The
prosecutor in charge of the Rubygate – a case in which Silvio
Berlusconi is indicted for having given money to under-age Karima el
Mahroug (aka Ruby the Heart Stealer) – has appeared on a photo
shoot on Berlusconi's Mondadori-owned “Chi” weekly magazine, a
gossip newspaper.
Judge
Ilda Boccassini is an old enemy of Berlusconi's, since she took over
the place of Antonio Di Pietro, back in 1994, in the “Mani pulite”
(“Clean hands”) investigation.
Silvio and Ilda met up in several occasions, since.
Ilda Boccassini doing shopping
The
gossip weekly portrays the judge as she goes shopping in the centre
of Milan, adding captions in order to deride the magistrate. A list
of her cloths is published, where “multi-coloured striped wool
socks”, costing 21 euro, are exhibited and undrlined in order –
somehow – to belittle the judge. Another photo shows Ilda
Boccassini dropping the butt of a cigarette to the ground. Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera and Rai3 news service accused the media outlet of "hounding" the judge.
A similar technique was used by Canale5 broadcaster staff in 2009, when they hounded judge Raimondo Mesiano, who ordered to Silvio Berlusconi's Fininvest to pay 750 million euro (£612m) to Carlo De Benedetti's – arch-enemy of The Knight – CIR, as a compensation in the frame of the Lodo Mondadori, a battle between the two Italian entrepreneurs following the acquisition of publisher Arnoldo Mondadori Editore by Fininvest. Mr Mesiano was followed by the broadcaster's men, his turquoise-coloured socks were exposed as a major offence.
Ruby rebuilding her virginity with Chi's Alfonso Signorini
By the
way, the weekly magazine we started this post with is owned by
Arnoldo Mondadori Editore SpA (company chaired by Silvio's daughter,
Maria Elvira Berlusconi, commonly known as Marina Berlusconi). The paper is also
known for having published topless photos of Kate Middleton earlier
this year, and a picture of prnicess Diana, taken as she was dying,
after a car accident on 31 August 1997. The Director of “Chi”,
Alfonso Signorini, was in charge also when Mediaset (on Canale 5's Kalispéra TV show) tried to prove that Ruby the Heart Stealer was – in reality – a
kind of vocational nun, not a prostitute.
Tuesday,
December 18, 2012. Invited to Italian state TV talk show “Porta a
Porta” (“Door to Door”) by anchorman and friend Bruno Vespa,
Silvio Berlusconi holds electoral an electoral speech and admits that
if the election will be held in February, his chances to win are
pretty dim.
"After Monti it's my turn"
“You
need... me” begins Silvio Berlusconi on the television screen, participating to Porta a Porta (Door to Door) one of the most viewed TV shows on state owned Rai1, after host Bruno
Vespa showed a footage of the previous night television programme (still on Rai1), where
Oscar-winner Italian actor Roberto Benigni joked about the fact that
it's the sixth time that the tycoon runs for office (“the seventh
time he shall rest” mocked Benigni).
"After Monti, it's my turn again" says Berlusconi's manifesto, projected by Bruno Vespa's staff. This is how things go in Italy, nowadays.
“You
need me and [...] I don't refrain [...] to render the assistance to
those in need” the former Italian prime minister continued, as the
conversation between the politician and business man and the
journalist went on following the usual politician-stooge pattern.
"Don't vote for small parties" warns the People of Liberty's president, founder and main financial backer, look for someone who "has got plenty of common sense", and than enunciates "I have been a winning entrepreneur, in every sector, I have built model cities, worked in the building, publishing and broadcasting industry".
In
reality the only electoral promise coming from Berlusconi is the
abolition of a municipal tax that his government introduced back in
2011 (Decree nr. 23, 14 March 2011), the infamous IMU (“Imposta
municipale propria”, a kind of Council Tax) in order to cover the
expenses left without funds by the repeal of the previous tax on real
proprieties “Imposta comunale sugli immobili” (ICI, “Municipal
Propriety Tax”).
Berlusconi
said that he can aim to get the 40 per cent of the votes, if he gets
enough time on TV to explain his reasons (pardon: his reason) his to
the Italians.
Gotcha!
What
is the alternative to Berlusconi? According to Berlusconi it's a social civil war, just like it (almost) happened in
Greece.
But in
the meantime another clock is ticking: a court set February 4, 2013
as the day for final hearing and judgement of the Rubygate
proceedings. In the trial Silvio Berlusconi is indicted of having
paid for sex an under-age prostitute known as “Ruby the
Heart-Stealer” (the real name is Karima El Mahroug) at his “bunga
bunga” parties, to which Moroccan belly-dancer Karima and droves of
other women were invited. If he gets a conviction, it might influence
his run for office.
Run
Silvio, run! I mean: slow down, Silvio, slow down...
Monday,
December 10, 2012. Key defence witness Karima el Mahroug (aka Ruby
the Heart Stealer) does not show up in court for Silvio Berlusconi's sex-related Rubygate trial. It turns out she's in Mexico.
Are you trying to delay the proceedings? Oh, not at all!
Most
probably Karima el Mahroug (aka Ruby the Heart Stealer) just forgot the court date (Silvio Berlusconi's trial,
he is accused of having paid for her sexual services, as under-age
prostitute) when she decided to travel to Mexico, with her boyfriend
and one-year-old daughter Sofia Aida.
That's
why she was not there last Monday, without notifying her attorney or
sending any documentation to justify the absence from the sex-scandal
trial. Quite
remarkably, Berlusconi's lawyers did not bother to talk to her, just
to make sure they'd be on the same page in the court, just to realise
she was somewhere else.
Friday, November 9, 2012. During the so-called Ruby-trial, it turns out that Silvio Berlusconi is still maintaining girls involved in (and witnesses of) the sex scandal.
Aris Espinosa
According to prosecutors, the 42 girls – among them the famous Ruby the Heartstealer (stage name of Karima El Mahroug), Elisa Toti, Aris Espinoza, Ioana Visan, Marysthell Polanco and Eleonora De Vivo – were recruited by Nicole Minetti and all live in a condominium in Milano 2 residential zone (address in 65 Via Olgettina, that's way the young females are also known as "le olgettine"), they obviously are habitués of the bunga-bunga parties (apart from being witnesses in a proceeding against Silvio Berlusconi in a sex-related trial), and they are all receiving around 2,500 euros monthly (that is £2,000 or $3,200), a pretty nice income in today's Italy.
Elisa Toti admitted also receiving a Mini car as a gift and help in the purchase of a house (in terms of cash and guarantee).
Wednesday, April 6 2011. The first session of the Silvio Berlusconi's Rubygate trial has been adjourned, after 15 minutes.
Do you know how trials work in Italy? The so-called “Rubygate” proceedings are a good example of that. Silvio Berlusconi is accused of having paid an under-age prostitute for her services, namely Karima El Mahroug, aka Ruby Rubacuori (Italian for "Ruby Heartstealer", the nom de guerre of the girl). Other women were believed to have received money for the same reason, but they were adults, and that's not a crime in Italy (I mean: it's not a crime to give money in exchange for sex to women above 18).
Court and press
The first hearings were due for on 6 April. The build-up was huge. An extensive international press coverage was set-up. Outside of the fascist-era court building in Milan an assemblage people gathered: curious folks, Berlusconi tireless haters and fans.
