Con artist pleads guilty in phishing plot that duped authors – The Columbian

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN, Associated Press Published: January 7, 2023, 5:09pm NEW YORK — A yearslong saga that ensnared the publishing world culminated in a New York courtroom Friday when a con artist pleaded guilty to a plot that defrauded scores of authors by duping them into handing over hundreds of unpublished manuscripts. Filippo Bernardini, an Italian citizen who had been working in publishing in London, pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud in connection with a phishing scheme that baffled the book world for years. The announcement was made by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, who said Bernardini is set to be sentenced April 5 before before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon. “Filippo Bernardini used his insider knowledge of the publishing industry to create a scheme that stole precious works from authors and menaced the publishing industry,” Williams said in a statement. Authorities say Bernardini, 30, used email accounts to impersonate literary agents and editors to con authors out of their manuscripts. “Through impersonation and phishing schemes, Bernardini was able to obtain more than a thousand manuscripts fraudulently,” Williams said. Bernardini, who hasn’t publicly explained his motives, faces a maximum
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