by Rod Hughes
Update: Matteo Quintavalle has been remanded to preventive detention for six months by the court. His lawyers have announced they will appeal.
Coolly protesting his innocense and with lawyer in tow, Italian millionaire and accused con artist Matteo Quintavalle turned himself in to judicial authorities yesterday after being the subject of an international manhunt.
(See article 1148 for more detailed background.)
The hotelier and soccer promoter is accused by 17 U.S. investors and one Somali businessman of allegedly defrauding them of millions of dollars in bogus investments and deposits in a fictitious bank.
Quintavalle breezily told Repretel TV news that the unhappy investors would get their money back. But the prosecuting attorney was having none of that and asked for a year preventive detention because he is allegedly a flight risk.
The Italian business mogul told the daily paper Al Dia that he was not in hiding but was in the Hotel Marriot at the Los Suenos resort area, celebrating his birthday with a business partner. He said he only learned of the accusations against him on TV and decided to wait for the judicial vacations to be over before presenting himself to authorities, opting to remain in his room to view video movies.
Meanwhile, INTERPOL had issued a warrant for his arrest.