June 12, 2023Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s longest-serving postwar prime minister, a conservative who swept into power on a popular anti-graft platform and stayed there for two decades with the help of his big personality, vast wealth and a powerful media empire before falling to a raft of scandals,A divisive figure in Italy and often a target of ridicule abroad for his ribald jokes, sex scandals and overlapping political and business interests, Berlusconi conditioned Italian politics and embodied...
For nearly two decades, Berlusconi avoided conviction either because of acquittals or the expiration of the statute of limitations. In August 2013, he was sentenced to a four-year jail term and a two-year ban from public office in a tax-fraud case—the only definitive conviction he ever received.