Vatican Bank foils trillion-euro fraud plot

Two men toting a briefcase stuffed with false bond certificates purportedly worth trillions of euro tried to bluff their way into the exclusive Vatican Bank in a foiled fraud plot.

Davide Cardia of the Financial Guard said the would-be swindlers, who were wearing business suits, tried to convince Swiss Guards at a Vatican City gate earlier this month that “cardinals were expecting them”.

Cardia told the Associated Press the suspects, a middle-aged Dutchman and a US citizen, were detained by Vatican authorities after rapid checks by Vatican officials showed they had no such appointment nor connections with the Institute for Religious Works, the formal name of the bank, which is behind the city-state’s walls and isn’t open to the public.