Bernardini 'expected to plead guilty this week'

Filippo Bernardini, an Italian citizen who worked as a rights co-ordinator at Simon & Schuster UK and has been accused of stealing authors’ manuscripts, is expected to plead guilty to wire fraud this week. 

According to The New York Times, an email was sent from the office of the US attorney for the Southern District of New York to victims on Tuesday 3rd January indicating a guilty plea would be forthcoming on Friday 6th January.

The New York Times reported that a spokesman for the US attorney’s office declined to comment on Tuesday and that “Bernardini’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment”. No comment is currently included in the paper’s coverage. 

Bernardini was arrested in January 2022, with the FBI alleging he impersonated people in the publishing industry over a number of years in order to have authors, including a Pulitzer Prize-winner, send him pre-publication manuscripts. The indictment said he had registered more than 160 fake internet domains to impersonate others since 2016.

S&S was not accused of any wrongdoing in the indictment and suspended Bernardini’s employment. 

He initially pleaded not guilty to aggravated identity theft and wire fraud and was released on bail. Bernardini was due in court in July 2022 but the sitting was postponed by US district court judge Colleen McMahon to consider a Deferred Prosecution Request. If granted, a Deferred Prosecution Agreement would see the case deferred by the judge, while the defendant fulfilled specified supervision and commitments, including for example fines or penalties.