- Giovanni di Stefano is the flamboyant international ‘lawyer’ who prided himself on representing the reprehensible, and became known as ‘The Devil’s Advocate’
- However, in 2013, he was jailed for offences including fraud, deception, and money laundering
- Remarkably, he still has plans to take over Dundee FC, the club where he became a director in 2003 before they went into administration
It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. What links Dundee with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, paedophile pop singer Gary Glitter, and serial killer doctor Harold Shipman?
The answer, as any football fan old enough to remember the early Noughties will tell you, is Giovanni di Stefano, the flamboyant international ‘lawyer’ who prided himself on representing the reprehensible, earning him the nickname ‘the Devil’s Advocate’, and who, in 2003, was briefly on the board at Dundee Football Club.
There was a time when Di Stefano was rarely out of the news. When he wasn’t pulling off audacious legal victories for villains including notorious landlord Nicholas van Hoogstraten and gangster John ‘Goldfinger’ Palmer, he was partying with the rich and famous at the Ritz and feeding journalists juicy soundbites.
He described the Serbian warlord Arkan as having ‘good morals’ and Osama bin Laden as having ‘very soft skin and a handshake like a girl’s’. He boasted of a £450million personal fortune, and of clients including former Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic, Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean despot, and Moors murderer Ian Brady. Many clients, he said, became friends.
But then, in 2013, all went quiet, after Di Stefano was sent to prison for offences including fraud, deception, and money laundering (this followed an earlier conviction for fraud and related crimes).
His victims included a man who had lost an arm in a car accident and whose £150,000 compensation pay-out had been pocketed by Di Stefano.
Giovanni di Stefano was dubbed The Devil’s Advocate because of his notorious clients
Flashback to 2003 when Di Stefano, then a director at Dundee, lured Fabrizo Ravanelli to Dens Park to play for manager Jim Duffy’s side
In the words of a judge, Di Stefano was not a lawyer but was ‘one of nature’s fraudsters… a swindler without scruple or conscience’.
Di Stefano is now a free man after serving a ten-year prison sentence. When we talk over the phone he is in Rome, visiting his mother for her 89th birthday. It’s clear that time behind bars has done nothing to dampen Di Stefano’s spirits. Nor has it cured the 69-year-old of what some might describe as an unnatural fixation with Dundee FC. He says he has unfinished business in the City of Discovery.
A lot has happened in the 22 years since Di Stefano first rode into Dundee like the proverbial white knight, offering to invest millions of pounds in the failing club in return for a place on the board. Back then he promised to transform Dundee into a credible rival to Rangers and Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premier League and pledged to keep spending until they lifted the Scottish Cup.
The dream didn’t come off, but Di Stefano is back and he claims his ambitions for the club are bigger than ever.
‘Dundee is back on,’ he told me. ‘I’d like to buy the club [Dundee F.C.] outright, that’s 100 per cent. I’d like to buy it outright and run it properly, introduce players, introduce a twinning system with at least two other countries within the European Union and possibly an American team and a Middle Eastern team so we have, effectively, cousins around the world where we can call on players and that’s how it will work. It works fantastically.
‘If you have a cousin, second cousin, first cousin, brother, they will help you with finance if they are better off. People will think I’m crazy, but 30 years have proved that I’m far from crazy.
‘I said we should have our own TV channel [at Dundee F.C.] and they said ‘no’ and now every team has their own TV channel. All the ideas I had have come to fruition.’
Before coming to that, there are a few other things he wants to talk about. They include his views on Russia and its war with Ukraine – ‘I also act for the Russian government. I’ve been a friend of Russia for the last 30 years… I’ve also filed an application to prosecute Zelensky.’ US President Donald Trump – ‘I’ve also advised President Trump… I don’t take sides. The fact that I may act for a criminal, or I may act for a murderer doesn’t make me one that supports murder.’
His recent business trip – ‘I’ve been in Serbia for five days, in Belgrade there, advising the President [Aleksander Vuèiã].’ And the corruption of the UK legal establishment and his experience in prison – ‘They sent me to the harshest prisons hoping someone would kill me. Instead, I ran the prisons. In one prison there I was the one that did all the banking, all the finances for the prisons.
‘I have many, many, many friends – I did over 200 cases [while in prison] and quashed a few murder cases… They call me all the time from prison.’
He reveals that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2022 but insists the condition won’t slow him down.
‘I’m still compos mentis. I may have Parkinson’s but it’s not so bad that I can’t move or anything like that, it’s still in its early stages. It’s nothing to be sorry about. In life you just have to bite the bullet.
‘Michael J. Fox has Parkinson’s and he’s still working… I’ve got plenty of clients. I just get on with things.’
Di Stefano claims to have been an adviser to Donald Trump in the past, as well as the Russians
Di Stefano at the wedding of his friend Zeljko Raznatovic, AKA the Serbian warlord Arkan
In addition to fighting a £25m compensation claim against UK authorities relating to his imprisonment, he says he is writing his autobiography and his prison diaries, making a docudrama about his life (which he claims will present a more accurate picture than the 2022 Sky docuseries, ‘Devil’s Advocate: The Mostly True Story of Giovanni Di Stefano’) which he hopes to show at Cannes, and representing various high-profile clients, ‘mostly governments’.
Did prison change him? ‘[It] opened my eyes to the stupidness of governments,’ said Di Stefano. ‘Ten years I never saw a soul, none of my family came to see me, I prohibited them. Imagine what that feels like, not to touch your loved one’s hand.’ He added that he doesn’t dwell on the past. ‘I know who I am. My conscience is clear. I know I’ve never cheated anyone. I’ve never stolen anything. I know I’m a qualified lawyer.’ The Law Society disagrees.
No longer welcome in the UK, the USA, or New Zealand due to his criminal convictions, Di Stefano says that home these days is Monaco where, he points out, he is left alone by the authorities and pays no tax.
The father-of-five, who once boasted of owning properties all over the world, refuses to be drawn on the state of his finances beyond saying that when he goes to the supermarket to buy groceries, his card doesn’t bounce.
It was his youngest son, Milan, who first got him interested in Dundee when Milan was a pupil at Gordonstoun, the £50,000 a year elite boarding school near Elgin which counts King Charles among its former pupils (the school later pursued Di Stefano for non-payment of fees).
Di Stefano recalls that his son phoned him one day and told him that Dundee were in financial trouble and asked him to look at the club as a potential investment. Di Stefano recalled, “I was immediately interested and got my eldest son to make enquiries.”
And so began one of the most colourful chapters in the Dens Park club’s history.
Di Stefano promised to spend whatever it took to get the best players. The supporters were ecstatic. The Marr brothers, Peter and Jimmy, who owned Dundee back then and were desperate for an injection of cash for the ailing club, welcomed Di Stefano with open arms.
Peter Marr said at the time: ‘The experience he’s got in the legal world, financial world and also in the football world are things that are useful when you are running a football club. Then there is also the financial aspect, and we are dealing with a guy who is operating at a higher level than we do at present.’
It was a period that promised much for fans of the Dark Blues. In September 2003, they signed Italian superstar Fabrizio Ravanelli and former Chelsea and Celtic midfielder Craig Burley.
Jim Duffy, then manager at Dens, recalls going to chat to the club accountant to ask if they could afford Ravanelli. The accountant said no. So, Duffy went to see the Marr brothers. They told him not to worry, adding that Di Stefano was going to take care of it as his gift to the club. There was fevered speculation that other big names would follow including Peter Crouch, Paul Gascgoine, Edgar Davids, Georgi Kinkladze and James McFadden.
They didn’t come.
Italian-born lawyer di Stefano claimed to have become friendly with many of his famous clients
He claims to still have plans to take over Dundee FC in future and transform their fortunes
‘He was very popular in those early days in Dundee,’ recalled Duffy. ‘He is a big personality, and he was shouting from the rooftops that he was prepared to invest a lot of money in the club.
‘It was a very brief honeymoon period. It was an exciting time for fans. He promised the world and generated more media coverage and more global attention than a club like Dundee would ever have got otherwise. But ultimately it has to be sustainable, and it wasn’t.’
Two months later, Dundee were placed into voluntary administration, with debts of £23million. The money Di Stefano promised had not materialised. But, looking back, Duffy stresses, ‘It wasn’t all down to him – it was already a mess financially.’ Craig Burley, Ravanelli and a host of other players had not been paid. Ravanelli had played just six games with the club.
In January 2004, Di Stefano resigned from Dundee after the club’s board asked him to step down.
Dundee might have thought that was the end of the saga.
But Di Stefano insists he is just what the Dark Blues need now as they languish second from bottom in the Scottish Premiership, just ahead of St Johnstone. Describing himself as ‘the comeback king of Dundee Football Club,’ Di Stefano said, ‘The ultimate for me would be to get them to win the [Scottish Premiership] and to join the Super League, to be the Scottish club that joins the Super League.
‘I had a dream when I was there but unfortunately it was cut short. I wanted a unified stadium between Dundee United and Dundee and we could’ve done that. We had the plans done. It was bloody fantastic with a shopping centre there and everything. There’s an old saying you need to be able to finish what you start.’
Di Stefano’s 2025 vision for Dundee includes the introduction of a phone-in system whereby fans pay £1 to vote for who plays in the team, with the players with the most votes in each position making the final 11 and the runners up taking their places on the subs bench. All monies raised would then be invested in the club.
Duffy said he has heard many of these ideas from Di Stefano before. He said, ‘He does like to be in the public eye. And football is a great way to get in the spotlight. Football is the number one sport in Europe. Club owners and people associated with the sport are put up on a pedestal. A lot of business people get involved in football for that reason.’
Dundee refused to comment on the possible return of Di Stefano. Meanwhile, the supporters’ society Dee4Life, which played a key role in raising funds to save the club from liquidation in 2003-2004 and again in a second spell in administration in 2010, said, ‘We would rather put this subject behind us.’
Dundee fans have been more outspoken since Di Stefano took to social media to reveal his comeback plans.
Their comments on X include, ‘Dear Giovanni, f*** off again’ along with ‘A comeback that would be as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit’ and ‘Remember to bring the Monopoly money.’ Others remember the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Dundee Di Stefano era more fondly, writing, ‘Welcome back’ and ‘Do it Gio, right behind you on this, yes yes & yes again’ and ‘You’ve been missed… come home.’
So, who is the real Giovanni Di Stefano?
The son of a cobbler, Di Stefano was born into a poor family in Southern Italy, and emigrated to the UK with his parents when he was six years old. They settled in a council house in Irchester, a village in Northamptonshire, where he says he and his family experienced everyday racism along with their fellow Italian immigrants.
Craig Burley, far right, was another ambitious Dundee signing under Di Stefano’s watch
Di Stefano watches Dundee during a UEFA Cup first-round clash with Perugia in 2003
Many associates distanced themselves from di Stefano, above, when his crimes came to light
From a young age, Di Stefano was determined to work hard, make lots of money, and leave his mark on the world. So far, so true.
When it comes to what happened next, it can be hard to separate fact from fiction.
At school, he (falsely) told classmates that he was dating rock star Suzi Quatro. Since then, he has claimed to be a British spy (false), to have been instrumental in launching a takeover bid for film giant MGM Studios (false), to have bought a Serbian second division football club with his pal, the Serbian warlord Arkan (true), and an Italian football team (true), as well as founding a British political party, the Radical Party of Great Britain (also true).
Asked whether people should take Di Stefano seriously, one former friend who didn’t want to be named said, ‘You never really know what is real with Giovanni. He is a very smart and able guy and there’s often a grain of truth in what he says but not always. He is like a sports car – he will get you from A to B and you will have a good time but there’s always a chance you might crash along the way.’
Many friends and associates distanced themselves from Di Stefano when allegations of his crimes came to light. Those who have stood by him include barrister Jerome Lynch K.C. who worked with Di Stefano on several cases. What does Lynch like most about him?
‘He bucks the system,’ said Lynch, who is now based in Bermuda. ‘I like people who are prepared to buck the system and don’t just accept the status quo. He’s done some silly things in his time but he’s not an all-bad person. He’s vilified because he had the temerity to challenge the establishment.’
Lynch added, ‘He’s a man of ideas. Sometimes they seem a little wacky and sometimes they are not. He’s a bit like Elon Musk.’
Aside from an angry outburst when I question his legal qualifications, Di Stefano is charming and affable. He feels he has had a rough time from the British media but says he doesn’t bear a grudge.
He doesn’t say it, but you sense he knows he needs to keep journalists onside to keep him in the public eye. Who would he invite to his fantasy dinner party? He rattles off quite the list: ‘Stalin, Roosevelt, Hitler, Mussolini, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra.’ And, after a moment’s pause, ‘Bin Laden so I claim the reward.’
Reflecting on his life and that of his children, Di Stefano said, ‘I’ve taught my children do whatever the f*** you want in life, take any job you want but please don’t be boring.’
It’s a mantra Giovanni Di Stefano has certainly lived by.