Bernardini stole manuscripts because he 'wanted to read books before they hit stores'

Former Simon & Schuster staffer Filippo Bernardini has said stole more than 1,000 unpublished manuscripts because he wanted to read books before they hit stores.  

In court papers published on Friday (March 10th), Bernardini apologised for his crime but claimed he did it so he could dive into the stories before they were available to the general public. 

“I never leaked these manuscripts. I wanted to keep them closely to my chest and be one of the fewest to cherish them before anyone else, before they ended up in bookshops,” he wrote. 

“There were times where I read the manuscripts and I felt a special and unique connection with the author, almost like I was the editor of that book,” he added.   

He explained: “While employed, I saw manuscripts being shared between editors, agents and literary scouts or even with individuals outside the industry. So, I wondered: why can I not also get to read these manuscripts?  

“One day, I created a spoof email address for someone I knew of in the publishing industry, and I sent an email to someone else that I knew of asking for a pre-publication manuscript. I wrote in the style and using the language that my former colleagues had used. When that request was successful, from that moment on, this behaviour became an obsession, a compulsive behaviour. Writing this now, I feel my fingers shaking as I type this at the thought of how egregious, stupid and wrong my actions were. I had a burning desire to feel like I was still one of these publishing professionals and read these new books. A part of me wanted to believe that I was still one of them and I started cosplaying what people in publishing were doing as editors or literary agents.” 

He concluded: “My name will always be associated with this crime. It is my scarlet letter and I will carry it for the rest of my life.” 

Bernardini’s lawyer Jennifer Brown wrote in a sentencing submission on Friday that Bernardini grew up as a lonely, bullied, gay child in a conservative part of Italy who found comfort by burying himself in books. 

“Why did he do it? Why would someone go to such lengths to obtain so many unpublished manuscripts and then do nothing with them? Not sell them. Not share them. Not seek to enrich himself financially in any way with them?”, she said. 

She argued Bernardini had already “suffered professional and reputational ruin” and was “effectively banned from the publishing industry”, which was “particularly painful” for him considering “his desire to feel like an industry insider”. 

The FBI arrested him at JFK Airport in January 2022. He pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in January 2023.  

Bernardini will be sentenced in Manhattan federal court on 5th April. As part of his guilty plea, Bernardini agreed to pay restitution of $88,000 (£72,700). His lawyers have asked the judge to sentence him to time served.