“FBI Arrests Man Accused of Stealing Unpublished Book Manuscripts: Filippo Bernardini, an Italian Citizen Who Worked in Publishing, Was Charged With Wire Fraud and Identity Theft for a Scheme That Prosecutors Said Affected Hundreds of People over 5 or More Years”, 2022-01-05 (; backlinks; similar):
The mystery may now be solved. On Wednesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Filippo Bernardini, a 29-year-old publishing professional, saying that he “impersonated, defrauded, and attempted to defraud, hundreds of individuals” over 5 or more years, obtaining hundreds of unpublished manuscripts in the process. Mr. Bernardini, who was arrested this afternoon after landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport, was charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. A spokesman for the Southern District said Mr. Bernardini did not yet have a lawyer. While the indictment does not name Mr. Bernardini’s employer, he describes himself as a rights coordinator for Simon & Schuster UK on his Twitter and LinkedIn profiles.
…Mr. Bernardini left few digital crumbs online, omitting his last name on his social media accounts, like Twitter and LinkedIn, where he described an “obsession for the written word and languages.” According to his LinkedIn profile, he obtained his bachelor’s in Chinese language from Università Cattolica in Milan, and later served as the Italian translator for the Chinese comic book author Rao Pingru’s memoir, “Our Story.” He also obtained a master’s degree in publishing from University College London and described his passion as ensuring “books can be read and enjoyed all over the world and in multiple languages.”
…The phishing attacks have been so voluminous and far-reaching, hitting publishing professionals in the United States, Sweden and Taiwan, among other countries, that some have said it could not possibly be the work of just one person. For years, the scheme has baffled people in the book world. Works by high-profile writers and celebrities like Margaret Atwood and Ethan Hawke have been targeted, but so have story collections and works by first-time authors. When manuscripts were successfully stolen, none of them seemed to show up on the black market or the dark web. Ransom demands never materialized. Indeed, the indictment details how Mr. Bernardini went about the scheme, but not why.
Early knowledge in a rights department could be an advantage for an employee trying to prove his worth. Publishers compete and bid to publish work abroad, for example, and knowing what’s coming, who is buying what and how much they’re paying could give companies an edge. “What he’s been stealing”, said Kelly Farber, a literary scout, “is basically a huge amount of information that any publisher anywhere would be able to use to their advantage.”