The shadow of a scandal looms over banking security in Italy after a former Intesa Sanpaolo employee was accused of having carried out over 6.600 illegal accesses ai politicians' bank accounts e celebrities. Vincenzo Coviello, 52, originally from Bitonto and employed at the Agribusiness branch in Bisceglie, province of Bari, spied on sensitive data of more than 3.500 customers throughout Italy from February 21, 2022 to April 24, 2024. According to the data collected, he performed “6.976 accesses to customers’ current accounts not justified by service needs”. Coviello told prosecutors: “I am a control freak. I did it all by myself, and in any case I never downloaded documents”. His behavior raised concerns about the security of personal data and the vulnerability of the banking system.
From the Meloni Sisters to the Berlusconi Family to Draghi: Here Are the Bank Accounts That Were Spied on
Among the names that emerged from the investigation, there are prominent figures in Italian politics, such as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, his sister Arianna and his then partner Andrea Gianbruno, the secretary Patrizia Scurti and her husband, Joseph Naples, head of the Prime Minister's security detail and currently an AISI agent. But within the group of those spied on there is everything and more: the president of the Senate Ignatius La Russa, and ministers Guido Crosetto, Daniela Santanchè e Raffaele Fitto and the former prime ministers Matteo Renzi ed Enrico Read. Also Mario Draghi, Luigi di Maio, Nichi Vendola, Alessandro Di Battista, Angelo Bonelli, Massimo D'Alema, Gianfranco Fini, the whole family Verdini, Francesco Boccia have ended up in the sights of the "spy" banker. There is no shortage of regional governors either: Michele Emiliano (Puglia) and Luca Zaia (Veneto). The list also includes prosecutors and high-ranking law enforcement officials, such as the then President of the Constitutional Court Silvana Sciarra, the national anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Melillo, the top brass of the Carabinieri (the former general commander Tullio Del Sette) to Andrea De Gennaro, general commander of the Finance Police. And again, high prelates of the Vatican and public figures and VIPs such as Francesco Totti, John e Lapo Elkann, the family Berlusconi and also Martha Fascina, Al Bano, Luisa Ranieri, sugar, Paolo Bonolis e Paola Egonu.
Bank Accounts Spied: Here's How the Banker Was Discovered
The investigations started almost by chance, thanks to a account holder – a wealthy entrepreneur – warned of anomalous accesses on his account. He is informed that disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against a bank employee, who had already been suspended in May following a report to the Privacy Guarantor. Dissatisfied with the explanations provided by the bank, the account holder decides to file a exposed in the Prosecutor's Office. From that moment on, the investigations intensified and, only in August, the Carabinieri realised the extent of the operation, Intesa communicated the dismissal of the employee, happened on August 8, 2024, triggering further investigations into the bank's strict liability under Law 231.
Investigators discovered that Coviello had free access to the banking system, searching with impunity for names of interest taken from newspapers. His searches included customer records, account statements and, in some cases, credit card movements, allowing him to reconstruct the movements of the people involved. Thanks to his role, he could access all the account holders' records, including those of parliamentarians, since Intesa Sanpaolo offers specific services for deputies. The searches were random and varied in duration (some a few seconds, others more in-depth), revealing a modus operandi worrying and unjustifiable.
Did Coviello do it all by himself? The hypothesis of an accomplice
According to the newspaper Tomorrow, the investigators hypothesize that the abusive access to the accounts occurred "to obtain for oneself or others, through the consultation of that data, information that, in the interest of State security or, in any case, in the internal or international political interest of the State, had to remain secret". On this, however, at the moment there is no concrete evidence, nor a flow of money that suggests the presence of an accompliceThe fact is that yesterday the "spy" banker suffered a search home, during which smartphones, tablets, hard drives and other computer devices were seized, now the subject of forensic tests. They were also found at his old desk in the bank.
The reactions
In response to this scandal, the Prime Minister Meloni commented on X: “Give us our daily dossier today”, thus signalling the alarming closeness between politics and banking power. Matteo Renzi he expressed solidarity with Meloni, while noting that certain injustices seem to affect everyone, even if anger only comes when one is personally involved: "I'm sorry that Meloni only notices these things when they concern her and is silent when they affect her political opponents". The President of the Senate, Ignazio La Russa, called the situation “unacceptable” and called for serious reflection on data protection laws and the need to strengthen internal controls in banks. He also suggested that this episode could have negative repercussions on citizens’ trust in the banking and political system.
Understanding St. Paul, for its part, has established that "the employee's behavior was not in line with internal procedures and industry regulations, revealed during ordinary control activities, which includes a complex system aimed at identifying any anomalous or risky behavior."
With the investigation ongoing, the Prosecutor of Bari and Privacy guarantor they will now have to do clarity on the legal implications of this serious incident and the possible responsibilities of the bank. The shadow of the dossier and the leak of sensitive information raise disturbing questions about the security and privacy of citizens.
