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	N.J. Priest Denies Vati-Con Scheme By Mike Jaccarino and Dave Goldiner New York Daily News July 1, 2008 http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/06/30/2008-06-30_nj_priest_denies_vaticon_scheme.html An Atlantic City priest denied accepting cash in Raffaello Follieri's alleged scheme to swindle $6 million from investors, a spokesman said Monday. Msgr. William Hodge told top clerics he never worked for the millionaire ex-boyfriend of "Get Smart" star Anne Hathaway and had nothing to do with Follieri's plot to claim the Vatican's blessing for his shady deals. "Hodge has stated to the diocese that he has accepted no salary, no remuneration or employment from Mr. Follieri," said Andrew Walton, a spokesman for the Diocese of Camden, N.J. Hodge, who is on vacation in Ireland, also insisted he never portrayed himself as anything other than a simple parish priest. Hodge admitted being a friend of Follieri, 29, whom he met in 2006 when the playboy was trying to buy land housing a long-shuttered Catholic school. He even told colleagues he would jet around the world with Follieri. The church is probing the purpose of the jet-setting. Follieri faces 20 years in federal prison if convicted.
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