What happened
New York State is investigating the Follieri Foundation, a charity run by Italian businessman Raffaello Follieri, the boyfriend of actress Anne Hathaway. The foundation, which helps vaccinate children in developing countries, failed to file IRS tax disclosure forms required from charities. Hathaway was once on the board of directors, but her publicist said she is no longer a board member. "There is an investigation going on that does not involve Anne," he said. (AP)
What the commentators said
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Stories about Follieri's "terrible money mismanagement" are nothing new, said celebrity news site Celebrities-Portal. He was sued several years ago by billionaire Ron Burkle for mismanagement of charitable funds and later got arrested for writing a bad check for $215,000. The new investigation is more evidence that Hathaway's beau might, in fact, be "a totally skeevy jerk."
Follieri is "nothing but trouble," said celebrity blogger Perez Hilton. And he has certainly been bad for "the lovely" Anne Hathaway's reputation. With his history of shading dealings, everything Follieri touches "turns to crap" and we "hope Annie's not next!"
"This would be yet another boring financial story if not for the presence of film star Hathaway," said Heather Muse on The Village Voice's Runnin' Scared blog. Headlines refer to him as "Anne Hathaway's boyfriend"—despite "being the center of the investigation, he's second fiddle." So let's treat it like the ho-hum story it is and move on to "happier" stories—like "the miracle window washer who fell 47 stories in December and survived."
