In pictures: Silvio Berlusconi and his scandals through the years
The three-time former Italian prime minister could emerge again as a power broker after general elections Sunday.
Media mogul and former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi fires up the crowd at a political rally in Rome on Wednesday. Many are impressed by his comeback from the political dead after his effective ouster in November, 2011.Mauro Scrobogna/The Associated Press
Berlusconi speaks during political rally in Rome in January. Italy’s three-time prime minister, fighting his sixth – and last – campaign, is dominating television and radio channels (many of which he owns) and charming his way back into the imagination of Italians.MAX ROSSI/Reuters
Berlusconi appears as a guest on the RAI television show Porta a Porta (Door to Door) in January, 2013, as his amazing comeback continues despite years of salacious allegations about his private life.Reuters
A woman on stilts mocking a prostitute amuses people marching against Berlusconi during a protest in Milan, Italy, in February, 2011.Luca Bruno
Teenage nightclub dancer Karima El Mahroug (”Ruby”) of Morocco poses at the Karma disco in Milan, Italy, in this November. 2010, photo. Berlusconi faced a prostitution investigation over allegations about the dancer who attended parties at his private residence. It was alleged that Berlusconi paid to have sex with the 17-year-old Mahroug.STR/Reuters
In 2009, Berlusconi was involved in another controversy after two Italian newspapers published what they described as excerpts from prosecutors' interrogation of a businessman who said he paid dozens of women to attend parties at Berlusconi’s homes and to supply sex "if the need arises.'' Here, Berlusconi is taking questions from an audience and suggesting that beautiful young women leave their phone numbers with his aides.Gregorio Borgia/The Associated Press
“I am not a woman at your disposal.” One of the T-shirt slogans created by Italian politician Rosy Bindi as she protested against the sexist quips of Berlusconi in 2009.TIM SLOAN
Berlusconi and his former wife Veronica Lario wait for then-U.S. President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush at the Villa Madama residence in June, 2004. Lairo accused Berlusconi of multiple transgressions with other women, including an 18-year-old.SUSAN WALSH/The Associated Press
Then-18-year-old Noemi Letizia poses in April, 2009, with a portrait of Silvio Berlusconi in her home in Naples, Italy. Letizia, has been quoted as saying she calls Berlusconi "papi" or "Daddy" and has been photographed sporting a gold and diamond necklace he reportedly gave her as a birthday gift.FRANCO CASTANO/The Associated Press
Patrizia D'addario, the escort at the centre of one of Berlusconi's sex scandals poses in 2009 at a party in Paris. She claimed she had suffered "strange'' threats since she revealed earlier this year that she had taped-recorded her purported bedroom encounter with Berlusconi, then wrote a book about him.Thibault Camus