JOIN USNew Berlusconi sex tapes go online
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faced further — and even more excruciating — embarrassment on Thursday when the weekly news magazine L’Espresso posted a recording on its website apparently made soon after he had finished having sex with a prostitute.
Berlusconi has sought to make light of the release this week of a series of tapes, saying Italians knew he was “no saint”. But he did not deny their authenticity, although his lawyer had earlier claimed they were fake.
In by far the most intimate recording so far, the prime minister purportedly discusses male orgasms and the advisability of female masturbation with Patrizia D’Addario, the escort who claims to have spent the night at his Rome residence last November.
Investigation
D’Addario, who has said she made the recordings on her mobile telephone, supplied them to prosecutors in Bari who are investigating whether to bring charges against the businessman alleged to have arranged for her to visit Berlusconi.
The recording begins with D’Addario purportedly telling the prime minister that a young man “would have already come in a second”.
After the voice alleged to be Berlusconi’s says “the problem, in my opinion, is a family one,” D’Addario asks: “You know how long it is since I had sex the way I had it with you tonight?” She then answers her own question, saying: “Months. Not since I left my man.
Is (that) normal?”
The reply is: “If I may, you ought to have sex by yourself. You ought to touch yourself with a certain frequency.”
In another recording posted to the web on Thursday, Berlusconi purportedly shows D’Addario and other women around his estate on Sardinia.
This is the third batch of tapes to be put up on websites by L’Espresso and its sister publication, the daily La Repubblica, in what has become an acrimonious trial of strength.
Berlusconi has denied that he was aware that D’Addario had been paid to visit him. She was one of several women recruited by a businessman, Giampaolo Tarantini, to attend a party at the prime minister’s private residence. According to a recording, they were each paid €1,000, but expected more if they stayed the night.