Joe Tacopina will represent former US president Donald Trump in the trial starting next December. But who is he exactly?
A well respected football personality on one side of the Atlantic, attorney for the most important trial of the XXI century on the other. Joe Tacopina will defend former president Donald Trump in the trial against him, whose first hearing will be in December.
Donald Trump is the first former or current American president in history to be indicted. The decision came last week when the New York Grand Jury summoned Trump for his official arrest.
Trump is accused of 34 separate criminal charges, all with a maximum jail time of 4 years. All the charges are related with Trump’s alleged misconduct in handling campaign funds to pay off pornstar Stormy Daniels. Currently, he is under arrest in a New York detention center, though he was spared of the more public and humiliating phases of the arraignment.
Donald Trump will be represented by Joe Tacopina, an italo-american attorney who graduated in 1991 at the Quinnipiac University School of Law.
Tacopina has a long history of high-profile cases, including New York State Senator Hiram Monserrate, actor Lillo Brancato and NFL team owner Daniel Snyder.
Tacopina’s biggest achievement as an attorney is arguably the defense of rapper Meek Mill, whose charges for drug use were overturned in 2008. On the other hand, Tacopina was also the defender in the Nauman Hussain case, who was charged with criminally negligent homicide.
The other side of Tacopina
While Tacopina was conducting a rather successful law career, which culminated with the defense of Donald Trump, he was also busy managing Italian football teams.
Tacopina has been the owner of two clubs in Serie A, Italy’s top football league. He was a member of the consortium that purchased A.S Roma in 2011, Rome’s most important football team.
He remained on the board of A.S. Roma until 2014, when the team managed to get second place in two important Italian cups. Then, Tacopina owned another Italian team: Bologna F.C. He remained chairman for just one season, when Bologna F.C. was promoted from Italy’s second league to the Serie A.
Currently, Tacopina owns another second league team called S.P.A.L. He is genuinely invested in the management of every team he owns, often being seen during games sharing comments with the coach.
Joe Tacopina’s net worth and salary are not disclosed to the public. Some estimates evaluate his fortune at $1-5 million, with a salary of $400.000 yearly.
Nevertheless, Tacopina will be in everyone’s mouth in the following months, as the most important trial in the XXI century unravels.
