Can we trust Lombardo’s truth? The “producer” accused by Asia Argento “lied” in court while he was under oath

Fabrizio Lombardo, the man Miramax choose to run the italian office, broke up (along with his former companion Claudia Gerini) in the scandal at the outbreak of the Weinstein case. His life is a curious story: he was a former real estate agent in New York, where he met Harvey Weinstein about twenty years ago, with no experience into the film industry but still able to climb positions in a short time and he evene become the mentor of Weinstein in Italy until 2004. "An exciting time," says Lombardo (accused by Asia Argento and Zoe Brock of being the man who "planned" sexual encounters with Weinstein) in an interview released on October 12 by Vanity Fair, where he also reveals that it was "Giuseppe (Tornatore) himself, "Peppuccio", to take me to Weinstein for the first time".

Lombardo categorically denies all the allegations and declares that he had no outside-professional relationship with Weinstein: "I was on holiday in the same Caribbean island, Saint Barth, when I was still engaged with Claudia Gerini. But being in the same place and spending the holidays together are two different things. That has never happened" said Lombardo. But then, few days later, a picture of his wedding with Chiara Geronzi (daughter of Cesare, former president of Capitalia) in 2003 become public and it showed Weinstein being his best man. This version was given by Lombardo in an interview with the New York Times. He changes the version about his first encounter with Weinstein: Tornatore disappears and the island of Saint Barth becomes the occasion of the first encounter with the American producer now ended in disgrace. New denial. To himself.

Lombardo's credibility in Caracciolo's case

Among Lombardo's amnesia, there is one that has nothing to do with the Weinstein affair, which deserves to be told. The story is written in Guido Moncalvo's book "I Caracciolo: Storie, misteri e figli segreti di una grande dinastia italiana", released in 2016, which reconstructs the story of Caracciolo di Castagneto and Melito princes and of their dynasty among Naples, Florence, Rome, with particular attention to Carlo Caracciolo – publisher of the ‘Espresso' and among the responsible for the success of the newspaper ‘la Repubblica' and a network of other local newspapers – and to Marella, the widow of Gianni Agnelli.

On page 387 Moncalvo tells the story of the inheritance at the death of Carlo Caracciolo: Giacaranda Caracciolo (the only daughter recognized until that moment) undertook a legal battle against Carlo and Margherita Revelli who, finding out they were children of Caracciolo, ask to participate in the division of the inheritance. The purpose of Giacaranda was to show that the two "brothers" knew that they were children of Caracciolo for more than two years, so to point to the expiration of the terms to begin the cause of recognition of paternity. Among the witnesses called to court to substantiate her thesis there was him, Fabrizio Lombardo. "Lombardo, however – says Moncalvo – will be ridiculed in the court and judges will be very rigid on the credibility of his words." Here's what Moncalvo writes:

Fabrizio Lombardo is making a bad impression on the judges. "I know Margherita Revelli because our kids go to the same school. I've known her for about three years – it's written in the minutes of the hearing about his oath-laying. I knew the alleged natural father. I met him on his birthday in October 2006. In January 2007, the well-known publisher reported to me the circumstance. On that occasion we were in Paris for reasons related to his work. We had met to play chess in Paris. The publisher told me that Mr. Revelli had told him he thought he was his son. I do not remember Mr Revelli's baptismal name. This gentleman had told him that her sister Margherita also thought she was her daughter. I do not know why he told me. We talked a lot about work and personal things as well. I wanted to have a good relationship with such a stimulating person. We met at his house in Paris, but also in Rome. The alleged natural father was not a big chatter. He told me that the mother of the young Revellis was an old friend". An attorney asks Lombardo what profession he does and why he has links with a newspaper publisher. "I'm a filmmaker," he replies. “Carlo Caracciolo called me because he wanted to meet me for planning a business meeting with an advertising company. Since October 2006, the first time I met the alleged natural father, until January 2007 there were other gathering opportunities, on average once a week. "

"We met only for playing chess," says Fabrizio Lombardo who obviously fails to "explain" the lack of common meeting points with the prince from a professional point of view, nor he is credible since it was unthinkable that the traditional privacy of Caracciolo, especially on his own private matters, was set apart with a newly-known person. Lombardo ends up admitting: "We have never had any work relations" and contradicts himself. He just make the judges believe he was his partner only in some chess games. Have you ever spoken of Carlo and Margherita? "Afterwards he never talked about them, in the subsequent meetings to play chess. Even in the last period he never talked about that, but I saw him less". Note that, shortly before, he had said that in the last four months they were meeting once a week. The lawyer ask him to know what "business" in common had they spoken about. "Precisely the opportunity to meet in Paris – is the answer – was due to the possible acquisition by him of a "Libération" quota. The managing director with whom I put him into contact was Maurice Levi". The witness is then dismissed.

In the ruling (which disputes Giacaranda's hypothesis and her Lombardo witness), the judges liquidate Lombardo, defining his testimony "completely lacking in credibility" and "contradictory where the witness stated that he had never had any working relationship with the well-known publisher and at the same time having been called by the latter to organize a business meeting with an advertising company and to have met him in Paris to contact Maurice Levi for the possible acquisition of a stake in French newspaper "Libération". Not too bad for a curriculum.