Actor Ethan Hawke was among the many notable names focused in Filippo Bernardini's scheme.
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An Italian citizen accused of stealing tons of of unpublished guide manuscripts – together with one from a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer – was arrested Wednesday afternoon when he arrived at JFK airport, prosecutors stated.
Filippo Bernardini, 29, an worker at London’s Simon & Schuster UK, was charged in a newly unsealed federal indictment with wire fraud and aggravated id theft over the alleged scheme that dates again to not less than August 2016, in accordance with the U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of New York.
Bernardini, who lives in London, allegedly posed as brokers, editors and different publishing business insiders to realize entry to the unpublished works.
Margaret Atwood and Ethan Hawke had been amongst these focused, the Related Press reported.
The savvy suspect allegedly duped authors into sending him their works by creating phony e-mail accounts, with minor typos, to impersonate precise business employees, prosecutors stated.
In September 2020, Bernardini allegedly duped a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer into sending him a file containing an upcoming manuscript through the use of a pretend e-mail account impersonating a well known editor and writer.
The alleged thefts puzzled the publishing business, as not one of the ill-gotten manuscripts had been offered or publicly exploited.
Bernardini was described within the indictment – which was filed in July earlier than being unsealed Wednesday – as working in London for a “main, worldwide, US-based publishing home.”
A LinkedIn profile believed to be his stated he labored for Simon & Schuster.
The writer stated it was “shocked and horrified to be taught at the moment of the allegations of fraud and id theft by an worker of Simon & Schuster UK.”
The corporate added that Bernardini has been suspended.
Bernardini is scheduled to seem in Manhattan federal court docket on Thursday.
With Publish wires
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