JD Journal » Italy

Death Scams Arise in Wake of Costa Concordia Tragedy

jim — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:02:37 +0000

A group of alleged scammers have been caught trying to fake deaths on the Costa Concordia in a sign that cons are trying to target the cruise ship disaster. New York lawyer Peter Ronai, a Hungarian speaker who is representing six Hungarian survivors from the ship wreck, discovered the scam.

The claims made by Ronai were backed up by the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, which said it grew suspicious when a mother claimed her daughter was missing on the ship. The claims were found to be false when it was discovered that the missing woman’s mother was actually dead for three years.

“It was absolutely clear that it was a fake story, so we treated the request as a face action,” Jozsef Toth, the Foreign Ministry of Hungary press department head said. “We have initiated an investigation about the matter, who is this person and who made this report and what was the motivation? The investigation is ongoing.”

All of the suspects will face criminal charges in the scheme.

The public was notified of the fraud as authorities recovered another body from the wreck, bringing the death total to 16, with 16 still missing, including a couple from Minnesota. While in Budapest, Ronai was asked to take on a seventh missing person case involving the ship.

“I got an email saying, ‘Can you please help us? My daughter is missing. She was on the Concordia,’” Ronai said. “I ran out to her house and basically she told me her 5-year-old granddaughter was missing, too.”

The mother of the alleged missing daughter said she did not know what her daughter, Eva Fiedlerne Puspoki was doing on the ship. Ronai said that he would need to speak with the boyfriend, who was able to corroborate the story from the mother. The two asked Ronai how much money they could get in a settlement.

One day later, the boyfriend called Ronai to tell him the child was not missing.

“The story started changing and changing, more and more,” Ronai said. Ronai told the boyfriend that a missing person report has to be filed with police if he does not see the child. Ronai and the police went to meet the boyfriend and ask questions.

“When is the last time you saw mommy?” they asked.

The child responded ‘today’ and that the mother took her to the park.

“Are you sure you saw Mommy today?” Ronai asked.

“I saw her today. I saw Mommy today,” the girl replied.

The alleged missing woman appeared during the questioning and said that she was on the ship and that she hurt her leg when jumping off the boat but had no visible injuries.

“They confessed to everything after questioning. They confessed to pulling this scam to make money,” Ronai said. “The police arrested them. They didn’t take them away to jail, but they’ll face criminal procedures.”

“They’re called ‘jump-ons.’ It’s normal, this is just on a grander scale,” Ronai said. “People will do horrible things for money. When you think about it, I had contacts at the embassy spending money looking for these people when they could have been looking for others.”

Ronai said he spent an estimated $10,000 on the search for the alleged missing woman for a plane ticket, a private investigator, countless taxis and cell phone bills.

“In 20 years of doing this stuff, I’ve seen a lot of deaths and a lot of tragedies, but I’ve never met one family after losing a loved one that says, ‘How much?’” Ronai said. “They always want to know, ‘What happened? How did it happen?’ These people wanted to know, ‘How much?’”

New Pictures of Costa Concordia Released

jim — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:01:44 +0000

A few of the dramatic images from the final moments of the Costa Concordia have been released, showing the ocean liner leaning on its side and with lifeboats scattered throughout the black water.

Pictures of the ship have been floating around the news and internet ever since the ship hit the rocks off the island of Giglio, which show the semi-submerged ship and its surrounding area.

These recently released pictures are the first from the early moments of the tragedy. The ship is still brightly lit, with the pictures showing the ship how it looked prior to the disaster. These new pictures and the illumination of the ship show how it tilted and how far it has tilted since the initial crash.

The captain, Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest in his Naples home. He says that captains have been discouraged to diverge from approved courses and sail close to the islands so the passengers can get the ‘complete experience.’ Police tapes have revealed a conversation with his friend from 24 hours after the crash. It said:

“Management was always saying ‘pass by there, pass by there’. Someone else in my position might not have been so amenable to pass so close but they busted my balls, pass by there, pass by there, and now I’m paying for it.”

“My husband is at the centre of an unprecedented global media storm,” Rossi Schettino, the captain’s wife, said. “Who is at sea sails, who is on soil judges. I cannot think of any other naval or air tragedy in which the responsible party was treated with such violence… This is a manhunt, people are looking for a scapegoat, a monster. It’s shameful.”

There are still 16 people missing and 16 have already been confirmed dead. Oil will be pumped out of the vessel this weekend, which is projected to take at least four weeks to complete.

Costa Cruises Offers Discount to Tragedy Victims

jim — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:30:22 +0000

The Costa Concordia tragedy, which has left 12 dead and 20 missing, has taken an interesting turn. The company that owns the ship, Costa Cruises, has offered victims of the tragedy discounts for future trips on their cruise ships. One survivor of the accident, from Britain, called the offer insulting. Less than two weeks following the disaster, quite a few pieces of information have been released. This information includes the following:

A log on the ship shows that Francisco Schettino, the ship’s captain, left the ship four hours prior to the final passenger left the ship. A voice recording showed that the captain pledged to be the final person on the ship, which shows erratic behavior that he lied to investigators. The ship’s safe was recovered by divers from the captain’s cabin alongside the body of a woman found submerged in the corridor.

Costa Cruises operates the Concordia and the parent company is Carnival, the world’s largest cruise operator. Costa sent letters to the ship’s passengers that detail how they can claim lost valuables and telling them about a full refund for their trip. There will be lawsuits in the United States and in Italy, according to multiple lawyers, as over 100 passengers have already joined a class action to be lodged in Miami soon.

A Costa Cruise spokesperson said that, “The company is trying to do everything they can for those passengers directly affected. The company is not only going to refund everybody but they will offer a 30 per cent discount on future cruises if they want to stay loyal to the company.”

One of the survivors, Brian Page of Southampton, said that he survived the crash by sliding from one side of the deck to another to find a lifeboat. “It is a ridiculous and insulting offer. I’m very disappointed in them. They are not accepting their responsibilities at all. Our only back-up is separate legal action.”

Captain Schettino has had the majority of the blame laid on him by Costa Cruises because he steered the ship on to the rocks and then abandoned ship prior to all of the passengers exiting safely. Lawyers for the ship’s passengers will argue that ships within the company regularly deviate from their correct route.

The head of the travel law team at Irwin Mitchell, Clive Garner, represents at least one passenger from Britain. He said, “I would advise Carnival to desist from doing this. In other large-scale incidents, defendants have been very keen to liaise with victims early on with a view to making low offers of settlement.”

A personal injury partner from Field Fisher Waterhouse, Jill Greenfield, said, “The poor people on this ship will still be in shock and not yet realize what they have been through. It may be that Carnival are genuinely trying to help but what they should be doing is telling these people to get some legal advice.”

Captain of Costa Concordia Called Taxi after Leaving Ship

jim — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:55:49 +0000

Five more bodies have been found in the Costa Concordia wreckage off the coast of Giglio, bringing the death toll to 11, with 24 people still missing. Explosives were used by rescuers to blow a massive hull in the side of the ship so they could continue their search into parts of previously inaccessible areas of the ship.

Marco Brusco, a coastguard official, said that there is still a glimmer of hope that some of the missing could have survived. But, mayor Sergio Ortelli from Giglio said that any hopes of finding them alive is minimal.

It has been reported that the captain of the ship, Francesco Schettino, had walked away from the ship and hailed a taxi so he could get away from the disaster area. One witness, the deputy mayor of Giglio, Mario Pellegrini, said that he boarded the ship at 11 p.m. and saw no signs of the captain onboard.

Schettino is being investigated for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, and abandoning ship by prosecutors. He is also being accused of leaving the ship before all of the 4,200 people onboard evacuated safely.

An attorney for Costa Cruises, Clarence Mitchell, said, “Mr (Pier Luigi) Foschi confirmed the captain had been approaching the island of Giglio to ‘make a salute’. The company says this (incident) was caused by an attempt by the captain to show the ship to the port. But there’s a criminal investigation going on and we’re not going to say anything that’s going to compromise that or the captain’s case.”

The shipwreck could also cause an environmental crisis because rough seas have been battering the ship, which could cause the ship to leak oil into the water, which is a protected sanctuary for porpoises, whales, and dolphins.

The captain has been blamed by operators of the cruise line for sailing too close to land in order to show the ship to the port. The Costa Cruise chairman also said that the captain movements with the ship were unauthorized deviations from the route so he could make a salute.

Foschi has apologized for tragic event, which has caused injury to dozens of people. Foschi also said that the ship is very safe and that the captain made an unauthorized and unapproved deviation from the programmed course for the ship.

“This route was put in correctly,” he said. “The fact that it left from this course is due solely to a manoeuvre by the commander that was unapproved, unauthorised and unknown to Costa. Personally and on behalf of the Costa Crociere (Cruises) I want to say we are very sorry for this tragic accident that’s happened.”

UK to Ban Export of Capital Punishment Drug

joshua — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 19:44:42 +0000

There is a domestic shortage of the anesthetic thiopental sodium, which is used for lethal injections in every state but Oklahoma. To make up for the shortfall, states have been ordering the drug from overseas, but their ability to do so may soon be curtailed. The UK has announced plans to halt exports of the drug to underline its moral opposition to the death penalty, and it has called on other members of the EU to do the same. Italy is already considering blocking further exports under pressure from the country’s Green Party, who contend that exporting the drug violates the Italian Constitution.

It’s not clear what impact if any this will have on domestic executions. The sole US supplier of the drug expects to have supplies in stock by first quarter of 2011.

Lovells Adds Four Lawyers in Italy

Erik Even — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:15:23 +0000

Lovells has brought on two partners from Simmons & Simmons for its Milan office.

Federico Del Monte and Corrado Fiscale specialize in structured finance and securities work, and will co-head Lovell’s Italian capital markets practice. They bring with them two associates.

Del Monte and Fiscale came to Simmons in 2004 from Clifford Chance.

Lovells is an international law firm with over 300 partners and around 3,200 employees operating from 26 offices in Europe, Asia and the United States. It is one of the largest international legal business practices in the world.

Dewey & LeBoeuf Hires 4 for Corporate Group

Erik Even — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:32:24 +0000

Dewey & LeBoeuf has brought on four corporate attorneys.

New corporate finance group partner John Cobb joins in New York from Milbank, where he was a partner in the Leveraged Finance Group.

Energy partner Lorenzo Parola, formerly of Allen & Overy, will work out of Milan, Italy, bringing with him two A&O associates. Parola is qualified both as an Italian Advocate, and as a Solicitor of England and Wales.

Dewey & LeBoeuf is a white shoe law firm formed in 2007 by the merger of Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae. The firm has 24 offices in 14 countries.

Clifford Chance Partners Defect to Start New Italian Firm

Erik Even — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:45:40 +0000

Three capital markets partners in Clifford Chance’s Milan, Italy office are leaving to set up shop on their own.

Paolo Calderaro, Michele Crisostomo and Silvio Riolo will bring at least one Clifford Chance associate along for the ride. Calderaro was head of structured finance in Milan.

No details about the new firm have been announced. If you know anything, please send us a confidential tip!

After the defections, Clifford Chance’s Italian practice has 23 partners and 117 other lawyers.

Last week Clifford Chance cut 20 positions at its New York office.

Clifford Chance LLP is the largest law firm in the world, both by number of lawyers and revenue, and a component of the UK’s “Magic Circle” of leading law firms. It is a prestigious international practice with its principal office at Canary Wharf in London.

McDermott Will and Emery Open In Milan

Erik Even — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:52:49 +0000

International law firm McDermott Will & Emery announced on Monday the formalization of its office in Italy’s financial capital, Milan.

Commenting, Harvey W. Freishtat, Chairman of McDermott Will & Emery, said, “Since early 2007 the Firm has serviced clients from a satellite office in Milan. We have built strong relationships with clients in the city, and are pleased to now formalize our presence in Italy’s financial capital.”

The Milan office is led by Massimo Trentino, who works closely with Milan-based partners Veronica Pinotti and Andrea Tempestini.

Mr. Trentino added, “We are delighted to consolidate our capabilities in Italy, and with offices in both Rome and Milan we are laying the foundation for further growth in Europe.”