Berlusconi in 13 ‘sexual acts’ with 17-year-old – prosecutors

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi engaged in 13 “sexual acts” last year with a then 17-year-old starlet known as “Ruby the Heart Stealer”, Italian media quoted prosecutors as saying.

An inquiry into a suspected prostitution ring run by three Berlusconi associates also said 33 women including Ruby were involved and it detailed orgies in which women “touched or were touched intimately by Silvio Berlusconi”.

The 74-year-old Mr Berlusconi faces a separate trial starting on April 6 on charges of paying for sex with underage Ruby – real name Karima El Mahroug – and then using the power of his office to try and cover up the alleged crime.

Mr Berlusconi and Ms El Mahroug deny having sex and he has denied all charges.

The results of the inquiry revealed on Tuesday said the parties held at Mr Berlusconi’s villa involved “masks, stripteases and erotic dances” and the Prime Minister chose “one or more women for the night for intimate relations”.

The Berlusconi associates under investigation are celebrity agent Lele Mora, television anchor Emilio Fede and Nicole Minetti, a former showgirl who is now a local lawmaker for Mr Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party in Milan.

Mr Fede first spotted Ms El Mahroug at a beauty contest in Sicily in 2009 when she was just 16, the inquiry documents were quoted as saying.

Mr Fede and Mr Mora “selected... young women who were open to prostituting themselves”, while MS Minetti arranged transport and payments, it said.

Prosecutors have made a formal request that the three be put on trial.