Accused con artist Raffaello Follieri had planned to fly yesterday to his native Italy to prepare for a big 30th-birthday bash on the beautiful Isle of Capri – but actress Anne Hathaway’s ex had to settle for a dreary jail cell in downtown Manhattan.
PHOTO GALLERY: Hathaway And Follieri
Follieri, accused of swindling up to $6 million from real-estate investors while posing as a top Vatican official, failed to post the $21 million bail set after his arrest Tuesday on fraud and money-laundering charges.
Follieri had a ticket for a flight to Italy and planned to travel to Capri, whose crystal-blue skies and seas make it a popular high-end tourist destination.
He had scheduled a party with friends for his birthday Saturday at the Villa Verde restaurant, said a relative in his hometown of Foggia.
Villa Verde’s spacious dining patio, huge cellar of expensive wines, pricey pastas and locally caught seafood have made it a favorite of Italian and American celebs – including Hathaway, whose photo appears on the eatery’s Web site.
The “Get Smart” actress kicked Follieri to the curb last week after The Post revealed his charity was being probed by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
Instead of calamari and Barolo, Follieri dined yesterday on jailhouse grub courtesy of the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he was sent after being released from St. Vincent’s Hospital. Follieri was hospitalized after his bail hearing when he collapsed from an apparent anxiety attack.
Prosecutors claim he duped investors in his venture to buy Catholic Church properties in the United States by suggesting he had top Vatican contacts who could help him do business, going so far as to hire two monsignors to travel with him on deal-making trips.
He also is accused of fraudulently using his investors’ money to fund an extravagant lifestyle with Hathaway.
But sources said that his most prominent investor, Bill Clinton pal Ron Burkle, got back the $1.2 million he believes Follieri misappropriated.
Another investor, Canadian real-estate exec Michael Cooper, also reportedly gave millions to Follieri.
A source told The Post yesterday that Follieri in recent months repeatedly “stalled” on paying waiters and bartenders he hired for frequent celebrity-studded parties he threw with Hathaway at a luxurious apartment in the Olympic Towers on Fifth Avenue.
“I simply could not get paid for the staff without a lot of begging,” the source said, adding that a Follieri check once bounced. He noted that at those parties, the two monsignors “were constant guests. I thought it was strange.”
Several dioceses – including the New York Archdiocese, sources claimed – said they rejected Follieri property purchases because he made lowball offers.
Other dioceses said he appeared “suspicious” to them or failed to follow through on promises in other cases.