The original Donald Trump.
After years of successfully brushing off sex scandals, allegations of corruption and political setbacks, Silvio Berlusconi’s luck finally out when he was convicted of tax fraud in 2013.
Berlusconi, 77, was sentenced to four years in prison and ejected from his seat in the Senate.
That prison term was converted into a year of community service, which he is serving at a care home near Milan, because of his age.
And he has been sentenced separately to seven years for having sex with an under-age prostitute and abuse of power. This is currently being appealed.
Before the Senate vote, Berlusconi’s political career took a hard knock when his centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party split over support for the coalition government led by centre-left Prime Minister Enrico Letta, and he opted to move into opposition.
It is a rum predicament for a man who, many Italians had come to think, was untouchable.
