Man pleads guilty to Vatican scam

NEW YORK -- A smooth-talking Italian businessman who dated actress Anne Hathaway and claimed to have friends in high places at the Vatican has pleaded guilty in a Manhattan real estate fraud case.

Raffaello Follieri agreed Wednesday to serve more than four years in prison. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. Prosecutors have said the 30-year-old Follieri posed as the Vatican's representative to the U.S., telling investors that the Roman Catholic church would sell him property at a steep discount.

Authorities said he took their money and spent up to $6 million -- much of it on his jet-set lifestyle.