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Ex-Monte dei Paschi finance head acquitted in fraud case

An Italian court acquitted Gianluca Baldassari, former head of finance at Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, of charges in a case relating to an alleged fraud scheme at the lender, Reuters reported.

Eleven other individuals, including seven former employees of the Italian lender, accused of participating in the scheme were also acquitted.

Prosecutors in Siena accused Baldassari of running a fraud scheme in which a group of people, dubbed "the five percent gang," demanded fixed fees from clients for each successful financial transaction they made, according to the report.

The alleged scheme was part of a wider scandal at Monte dei Paschi in 2013 that ultimately resulted in a bailout from the Italian government in 2017, the newswire noted.

Former Chairman Giuseppe Mussari, former CEO Antonio Vigni and Baldassari are reportedly still on trial in Milan in connection to a separate case in relation to derivatives trade and other transactions for charges of market rigging, false accounting and obstruction of regulators.