A Vatican court has upheld the conviction of Angelo Caloia, the former head of the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), who was convicted last year of financial misconduct.

Caloia had been sentenced to eight years in prison for selling IOR to himself and his associates at below-market prices, using shell corporations to disguise the transactions. The former IOR president, who is now 81 years old, will serve the sentence in an Italian prison, under terms of the Vatican’s accord with Italy.

Caloia had been president of the IOR from 1999 to 2009, when he was removed by Pope Benedict XVI. He was convicted in 2021 along with his lawyer, Gabriele Liuzzo, who was found guilty of the same embezzlement scheme. Their appeal of the conviction has now been denied.