Topic: Raffaello Follieri

Vati-Con is the nickname given to a scandal involving Italian real estate developer Raffaello Follieri, who is accused of misappropriating a $50 million investment from billionaire Ronald Burkle meant to buy up Roman Catholic churches in the United States.

On July 15, 2008, Bishop Joseph Anthony Galante of the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, was implicated in the scandal by a New York Post article titled "A Deal with the Devil" that revealed that Follieri had bought Galante's beach house for $400,000 in 2007 shortly after Galante began the study that resulted in his 2008 announcement to sell off half of the Diocese's church properties. Following disclosure of the bishop's involvement in Vati-Con, the Council of Parishes of Southern New Jersey demanded "a complete halt to the Bishop’s planned church closure program."

On July 24, the New York Daily News reported that in a second raid of Follieri's apartment in New York City, the FBI had confiscated the private journals of Follieri's former girlfriend, actress Anne Hathaway, as part of their ongoing investigation into the scandal. Despite her relationship with Follieri and the seizure of her diaries, Hathaway is currently not facing charges in regard to the scandal.