Di hard days begin
Giovanni Di Stefano, 57, an Italian man known as the Devil’s Advocate, who said he provided legal representation to the likes of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, conned clients out of large sums of money by setting himself up as a lawyer when he had no legal qualifications and was not registered to work as a lawyer in Italy or Britain.
During the trial, the court heard Di Stefano had links to Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, al Qaeda founder Osama bin laden, late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam.
Di Stefano was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of 25 offences of deception, fraud, money laundering and forgery allegedly committed between 2004 and 2012.
Di Stefano, who was born in the small town of Petrella Tifernina in central Italy but moved to Britain as a boy, was sentenced for 14 years last week.
