The Vatican City State court sentenced an Italian contractor, who had done work for several Vatican offices, to 2 1/2 years in jail for using a Vatican bank account for money laundering.
The conviction and sentencing of Angelo Proietti, 63, was handed down December 17 and announced by the Vatican press office December 27; his lawyer told the Wall Street Journal he would appeal.
The Vatican court also ordered the confiscation of the more than 1 million euros ($1.14 million) Proietti had in his account at the Institute for the Works of Religion, the formal name of the Vatican bank. The court had frozen the account in 2014 as both Italian and Vatican law enforcement were investigating his actions.
