The family of Silvio Berlusconi has started legal proceedings to evict 20 women whom he allowed to stay in his properties as compensation for their involvement in his multiple prostitution trials, Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper reported on Friday.
Berlusconi, who died of leukemia in June, was found not guilty in February of paying 24 models and showgirls to give false testimony in a 2014 trial in which he was accused of paying an underage Moroccan prostitute for sex. Berlusconi did not deny paying the women stipends and allowing them to live at his properties, but claimed that these gifts were given as compensation for the reputational damage suffered by the women during the trials.
Berlusconi described the parties held at his residences in Milan and Sardinia as “elegant dinners,” although the gatherings were described in the Italian media and by prosecutors as bacchanalian orgies.
Berlusconi’s family now want the women out but, according to Corriere della Sera, some are resisting. One of them, 45-year-old Barbara Guerra, has produced a recording of the late prime minister promising her ownership of a house near Milan once a pending corruption trial was over.
“I promise you that the house will be yours. I swear to you on my children,” Berlusconi reportedly says in the recording, “It is not possible now because that would be corruption… I’m happy to give it to you, it’s not a burden for me.”
Showgirl Alessandra Sorcinelli told the newspaper that she received a letter from Berlusconi’s family last month, instructing her to leave a villa in Brianza by the end of the year. Sorcinelli has sued the Berlusconi estate, claiming that she signed an open-ended contract to stay at the property in 2015, and has recordings of Berlusconi promising to sign ownership of the villa over to her at a later date.
The Berlusconi family “are not respecting the wishes of the deceased,” Sorcinelli said. “When a person passes away, he also leaves unresolved things that the heirs must settle. I expect that the children will want to close this matter without forcing frustrated and angry people to sue to protect their rights.”
Sorcinelli also claimed that Berlusconi promised her €3 million ($3.2 million). According to Italian prosecutors, Berlusconi has paid a total of €10.8 million ($11.6 million) to 21 women since March 2012. Karima El Mahroug, the Moroccan prostitute involved in the 2014 trial, received roughly half of this sum, Corriere della Sera reported.
Berlusconi served as Italy’s prime minister from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. He has been on trial more than 30 times for crimes ranging from abuse of office, defamation, association with the mafia, and tax fraud. However, prosecutors only managed to convict him on a single count of tax evasion in 2013, and his four-year prison sentence was reduced to community service.
Prior to his death, Berlusconi became active again in Italian politics, winning election to Italy’s senate last November. He was an outspoken critic of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s support for Ukraine, accusing Kiev of provoking conflict with Russia and suggesting that Ukraine be paid to seek a peace deal.