Court Tosses Berlusconi Corruption Case

A Milan court has ruled that the statute of limitations has run out in a corruption case against Silvio Berlusconi, handing Italy's former prime minister another victory in a long string of judicial woes he has faced. The former Italian prime minister wasn't in court this afternoon when the court's three judges read out their verdict at the trial after about two hours of deliberation.

The billionaire media mogul was accused of paying a British lawyer David Mills $600,000 to lie during two 1990s trials to shield the politician and his Fininvest holding company from charges related to his business dealings. The corruption trial was one of several Berlusconi is facing in Milan, including charges that he paid an underage Moroccan teenager to have sex with him, then used his influence to cover it up. (More Silvio Berlusconi stories.)