By ninemsn staff
A senior Italian priest who allegedly scammed $6.5 million by performing fake exorcisms is under investigation for fraud.
Prosecutors say Father Francesco Saverio Bazzoffi put on "stage shows" at the House of the Sainted Archangels, an organisation he founded in Florence.
Father Bazzoffi is accused of roping in associates to "pretend to be possessed by demons" and casting them out with ancient and bizarre rites, the UK's Daily Telegraph reports.
He would then offer to help "heal" members from the crowd — which often grew to 400 — and ask for donations for his services, prosecutors said.
Officials began spying on Father Bazzoffi, who heads the matrimony office of the diocese of Florence, in 2005 and raided his house last month, seizing various documents that said he had $6.5 million in his bank accounts.
This isn't the first run in the priest has had with exorcisms: he was warned last year by the Archbishop of the city to put an end to the practice.
Father Bazzoffi denied ever carrying out exorcisms, instead saying he only ever carried out "blessings".
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