An Italian secret service operative was found dead in a Paris hotel on Sunday night with a business card from the Presidency of the Council of Ministers – the highest public office under the control of Italy’s prime minister.
The agent was discovered lying in a pool of vomit with blood under his chin. The business card that was found on the deceased bore his name, Massimo I., and the employer’s name: ‘Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri’.
Neither Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte nor any other public official in Italy has yet released a public statement on the incident. The local scientific police have determined that an investigation is needed to establish the cause of the man’s death, but embassy sources have already said that the agent died of “natural causes”, Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported.
French police also found an encrypted security key in a safe, along with with a folder containing 85 tickets for €20 ($22.40), a USB key, an SD card, and an adaptor. The man had arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris from Rome on May 3, and was staying at a residential hotel in Montmartre.