Italian police have opened a new investigation into Mario Pianesi, an influential businessman celebrated as a guru of macrobiotic food, over allegations that he might have killed his first wife by putting her on an extreme form of his “Ma-Pi” diet.
Gabriella Monti died in 2001, two months after being diagnosed with acute hepatitis caused by aflatoxins, a fungal poison sometimes found in grain or nuts.
Monti had had a stroke in 1997, after which she was cared for at home by her husband.
Pianesi had built up a following of thousands of customers who believed that his cereals-based diet could cure serious illnesses.
Police said that the diet might have exacerbated Monti’s already fragile state, leading to her death.
“Instead of curing her with traditional medicine, he tried to cure her at home with the diet,” investigator Carlo Pinto told reporters.
Pianesi, 74, is accused of keeping his wife’s illness hidden; he allegedly allowed few people to visit her. He is also suspected of trying to “eradicate proof” by exhuming her remains in 2013 and cremating them.
The new allegations emerged during an investigation into claims that Pianesi cultivated what police describe as a “macrobiotic sect” that manipulated people, denied them contact with the outside world and reduced them to slavery.
The investigation began in 2013, when a young woman whose weight had plummeted to 35kg told police that Pianesi had promised her that his diet would cure her illness.
Others came forward claiming Pianesi that wielded power over those who had worked for his empire, a network of macrobiotic product hubs and restaurants, gradually leading them to lose control over their lives.
Pianesi and his second wife, Loredana Volpi, along with two representatives of his Un Punto Macrobiotico (UPM) Association, were exposed in March and are to stand trial over the sect allegations.
His lawyers said in a statement that the latest allegations constituted “a description of facts that appear to be the fruit of rumors and conjectures.”
Pianesi started to make bold claims about his diet, modeled on the teachings of Japanese philosopher George Ohsawa, in the early 1990s. Many people, particularly those diagnosed with HIV, attended his seminars in the hope of finding a cure.
It is alleged that Pianesi tried to keep Monti’s death quiet because he feared people would believe his diet had failed; some of his followers had given up treatment for cancer in the hope of being cured by his food formula.
When news of the death came out, he allegedly told an audience of more than 100 people that it was their fault.
“He accused us of killing her, as he was unable to devote time to care for her because he was dealing with our problems,” said Gilbert Casaburi, a former chef within UPM.
The couple’s two sons defended their father in a local newspaper interview, saying that they “lived under the same roof” and “ate the same food” as their mother.
They also said that their mother had not been “segregated” and that it was her choice not to have heart surgery after the stroke.
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