The investigation showed that Scaramella received some of his information from Litvinenko. Scaramella was then an obscure figure, described as by the International Herald Tribune as "a slew of media reports about him and his career here — which included trying to prove that some top Italian center-left politicians, including Prime Minister Romano Prodi, are Russian spies — have invariably included unflattering adjectives.
The investigation demonstrated that Scaramella derived some of his information from Litvinenko. At the time, Scaramella was an under-the-radar figure; according to the International Herald Tribune, various media reports about him and his career here — which involved asserting that several Italian politicians were Russian spies, including Prime Minister Romano Prodi — frequently employed negative descriptors.