Rogue Italian police sold celebrities’ personal info to private investigators

A view of the St. Peter's Basilica at The Vatican and Rome's skyline, Sunday, Jan.1, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Italian police officers harvested the personal information of celebrities and financiers from police databases and sold it to private detectives and debt collectors, investigators said Wednesday.

Police in Naples said 29 people are under investigation for an alleged “criminal conspiracy aimed at illegally accessing computer systems, corruption, and the disclosure of professional secrets”.

The officers stand accused of accessing police databases for private companies specializing in investigations or debt recovery and looking for details such as information on criminal cases, or tax or banking data.

“The victims of these breaches... include certain figures from the worlds of entertainment, finance, and business, as well as several corporations,” police said in a statement.

More than one million data records were stolen, including over 630,000 by two police officers, officials said.

Documents seized by investigators included a “price list”.

Access to a police database on their investigations cost 25 euros (US$30), while information found in the social security computer system cost between six and 11 euros.

Police seized approximately 1.3 million euros from some of those under investigation, the statement said.