Giovanni Di Stefano

Who is Giovanni Di Stefano?

Giovanni Di Stefano is an Italian businessman and convicted fraudster based in the United Kingdom. He has been involved in legal cases for high-profile notorious defendants worldwide; he has no legal qualifications and is not registered to work as an advocate in the UK or Italy. He has been referred to as "The Devil's Advocate" for his advocacy on behalf of clients such as Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milošević. He was also a business associate of the Serbian paramilitary leader and indicted war criminal Arkan.

He has been convicted four times in Ireland and the United Kingdom of fraud and related criminal offences, serving a total of eight and a half years for convictions between 1975 and the late 1980s. He was described by a judge as "one of life's great swindlers". His most recent conviction, in March 2013, saw him being sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment after being found guilty or pleading guilty to 27 charges including deception, fraud and money laundering between 2001 and 2011 related to "tricking people into thinking he was a bona fide legal professional".