Rodrigo Faro contracted illegal service to obtain Italian citizenship; presenter says he is a victim

Rodrigo Faro and his wife, Vera Viel, are being cited by the Italian press as clients of an illegal scheme to obtain citizenship in the country.

The couple confirmed, via press office, that they had hired the services of Brazilian businesswoman Silmara Fabotti, arrested this Monday (27), in Naples, along with five other people.

According to the Italian broadcaster Rai News, the Naples police, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Naples North, arrested two Brazilians and four Italian public servants accused of being part of the scheme. The operation was called Carioca.

The suspects are accused of defrauding Brazilian clients’ proof of residence in the Neapolitan district of Villaricca. They will be charged with criminal association, falsification of public documents and corruption.

The newspaper says that the office had several Brazilian “VIPs” among its clientele, such as the couple Faro and Viel, football players and jewelry businessmen.

On her website, Silmara Fabotti says that she has been leading the Diritto di Cittadinanza office for ten years and presents herself as a “reference in Italian citizenship.”

The businesswoman herself claims to have already issued more than five thousand Italian passports to Brazilian clients. “He helped make more than five thousand dreams come true,” says his biography on the website. The company’s website and page on Instagram, with 13 thousand followers, were taken offline this Monday (27).

‘CAUGHT BY SURPRISE’

Faro admitted to having hired the company in 2021 to “acquire an Italian passport for him and his family”. The presenter says that the service was recommended by a friend and that he did not know that the scheme was illegal.

In a statement, the presenter’s office stated that he “was taken by surprise” by the arrests in Naples and that he and his wife are “victims of this office and its team”.

“Rodrigo has already contacted his lawyers here in Brazil so that this entire misunderstanding can be resolved and that those responsible for this alleged corruption scheme can be punished”, says the note.