Christian Vieri Awarded €1m Damages After Having Phone Tapped By Inter Milan

Chris Wright

4th, September 2012

2 Comments

By Chris Wright

Italy’s former battering ram of a striker, Christian Vieri has been awarded €1 million (£800,000) in damages after it was found that former employers Inter Milan and Italian communications company Telecom Italia conspired to tap the player’s phone during his six years at the club.

Vieri, who represented Inter between 1999 and 2005 and is now retired, filed a lawsuit against his former club and Telecom Italia seeking a combined €21 million in damages five years ago – claiming the allegations of spying had damaged his playing career and caused him ‘undue stress’ after word got out that Inter were using phone-taps to monitor his personal life.

The rumours surfaced in 2006, when an entire dossier on Vieri was discovered by chance as part of an unrelated investigation into the Italian telephone company’s dubious ‘business conduct’.

Gazzetta dello Sport then reported that the dossier contained various details of Vieri’s movements, and that the player had been closely followed by his club during the 2000/’01 season and then again in 2004.

You’ve got to love Italian football, eh? Always something new to stare in disbelief at.

Posted in Media, Serie A

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2 Comments

  1. lurker says:

    if only moratti had this kind of devotion for rebuilding the midfield.

  2. enzo dileto says:

    I attach 3 important articles in Italian ( http://www.repubblic…vieri-41903867/ , http://www.repubblic…itri_-41932742/ http://www.tuttojuve…dnotizia=108745 ) about the ongoing scandal in Italian football, especially the cover-up of illegal activities committed by Inter MIlan FC. Inter MIlan & Telecom Italia have been convicted of illegally hacking Christian Vieri’s phone lines, having private investigator’s following him and illegal checks made on his private financial affairs. He was at the time an Inter Milan player.

    Finally, after years of a mass cover-up, even by the media we have decided to break their silence. We want the media in other countries to disclose these illegal activities committed by the Inter Milan FC as the truth should be known.

    This is a team that still has not been convicted by the sporting justice system in Italy or had any penalty sanctioned. If Inter Milan had committed these offences in your league it would be relegated 2 or 3 divisions or possibly even banned from football altogether. This first conviction by Christian Vieri’s legal team for damages of 1,000,000 EUROS is just the tip of the iceberg. Over the next few weeks similar cases will be decided upon. Former referee Massimo De Santis, former Juventus Director Lucioano Moggi & former Italian Referee’s Director Paolo Bergamo to name a few all have their trials against Inter Milan & Telecom Italia awaiting judgement soon.

    Christian Vieri has also stated other fellow players at Inter Milan (Ronaldo, Mutu & Jugovic) were having their phone lines hacked and being folowed by investigators.

    When the first news of Telecom Italia’s illegal dealings hit the headlines back around 2005 one their employees Adam Bove mysteriously fell to his death off a building amid rumours he was about to spill the beans. Not to mention the farce involving Juventus being relegated for some slightly irregular calls that a court of law ruled did not in any way fix or influence the result of any match. These calls were once again intercepted illegally by Telecom Italia and ordered by Massimo Moratti the Inter Milan president. This is regardless of the fact calls were shown in court of Inter emplyees, including the former President Giacinto Fachetti, trying to influence referees and Referee Directors in favour of Inter a crime that would carry immediate relegation and a heavy points deduction.

    They have again & again avoided penalties as the information always seems to be discovered just after the Statute of Limitations comes into play to block all possible chance of judication.

    Instead they went on to be awarded the 2006 Serie A title from Juventus and win the next 4 titles and a Champions League Trophy after their greatest rivals Juventus were relegated and had their squad dismantled. A squad that contained no fewer than 9 players (6 Italian + 3 French) that featured in the 2006 World Cup FInal. Juventus are currently suing the Italian Football Federation for 444,000,000 EUROS due to this disparity of conduct towards them as a court of law after an 18 month trial concluded Juventus gained no advantage in any way for any match from the evidenced (illegally taped) phone conversations.

    So please can you evidence and publish a story about it, so that we can inform the World. In England the ‘News of the World / News International’ phone hacking scandals were front page news for months on end but in Italy there is a constant suppression of certain stories reminiscent of the Fascist Mussolini regime.

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