An Italian man working as a low-level rights coordinator for Simon & Schuster in the UK has been accused of stealing hundreds of unpublished manuscripts by famous authors in hopes of using them to email well-known editors and agents. was arrested on suspicion of Ideas for your books.
Filippo Bernardini, 29, was taken into custody Wednesday at JFK Airport in New York City on suspicion of wire fraud and identity theft. He is due to appear in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday.
According to prosecutors, Bernardini — who has worked for Simon & Schuster since 2019 — used his knowledge of the industry to target authors by creating fake domain names and email addresses to well-known agents and editors.
The scandal has stunned the literary world for years; Many of the targeted authors expected to see work on the dark web for sale, but they never did.
Known as ‘The Spine Collector’, the mystery thief impersonated hundreds of writers, editors and writers and then disappeared.
Filippo Bernardini, 29, was taken into custody Wednesday at JFK Airport in New York City on suspicion of wire fraud and identity theft. He is due to appear in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday.
The thieves – known in the literary world as The Spine Collector – stole manuscripts by Margaret Atwood, left, and Ethan Hawke, right. According to federal prosecutors, he planned to steal the ideas for his masterpiece
Prosecutors say Bernardini was careful not to reveal his identity online. This is his LinkedIn page, where he leaves his surname blank, but claims to be ‘obsessed’ with the written word
Prosecutors say Bernardini – who himself admits to being ‘obsessed with the written word’ online – intended to use his ideas to write his masterpiece, but could never pull it off.
The scheme began in 2016, when he was working for law firms and literary companies in Italy in various intern and assistant roles.
Among his victims are Margaret Atwood and actor Ethan Hawke who has written nine books.
‘We allege that Mr. Bernardini used his insider knowledge of the industry to send his unpublished books and texts to authors posing as agents, publishing houses and literary scouts.
‘Mr. Assistant Director-in-Charge of the FBI’s New York Office Michael J. Bernardini was allegedly trying to steal other people’s literary ideas for himself, Driscoll said, but in the end he wasn’t creative enough to get away with it. in an announcement on Wednesday.
Bernardini has been charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of serious identity theft.
He is due in court later today.
Bernardini’s LinkedIn page describes his ‘obsession’ with the written word. Prosecutors say he intentionally did not include his full name on his social media pages or online.
Bernadini lives with Ben Kaye (together above) in North Finchley, London.
Bernardini (second from left) is shown with friends and Kaye (far right). He is to appear in Manhattan court Thursday on charges of fraud and abetting identity theft.
‘My passion for the written word and languages has earned me a Bachelor of Chinese Language from Universit Cattolica (Milan, Italy) and a Masters in Publishing from UCL (London, UK).
‘The combination of these two passions has helped me pursue a career in foreign rights management, an important aspect of publishing. This ensures that the books can be read and enjoyed all over the world and in many languages. I have also taken commission to translate books and corporate material,’ he says.
It is not clear why Bernardini was flying to the US or where he was flying when he was arrested on Wednesday.
He deceived the authors and their agents by exchanging the letter ‘M’ for ‘RN’ at Penguin Random House by changing a letter in their email address or domain name.
According to the indictment against Bernardini, which was filed in July but was closed only yesterday, the plans were running from at least August 2016 until July of last year.
It said that Bernardini ‘used fraudulent, like-looking domains to impersonate individuals involved in the publishing industry to covertly gain access to these materials,’ and that over the years he had ‘impersonated, fraudulently and fraudulently Tried, hundreds of persons.’
Simon & Schuster said in a statement that it had no knowledge of its involvement in the scandal.
“Protecting the intellectual property of our authors is of primary importance to Simon & Schuster and everyone in the publishing industry, and we are grateful to the FBI for investigating these incidents and making charges against the alleged perpetrators,” the statement said.
,