Mario Bernardo Pierangeli (12 Jun 1914 – 1988), later Michele Angelo-Comneno di Tessaglia,[1] was an Italian tax lawyer, forger and pretender.
He originally worked as a tax lawyer, apparently of "mediocre talents", and was a supporter of Benito Mussolini's fascist government of Italy.
[1] After the Second World War, Pierangeli took an interest in his own origin and forged a lengthy genealogy, claiming himself to be a descendant of the Angelos family of the Byzantine Empire.
[2] Throughout the 1950s, Pierangeli gradually changed his name little by little, until he emerged as "Michele Angelo-Comneno di Tessaglia", styled in full as "His Royal and Imperial Highness Michael III, Prince of Thessaly and Epirus, chief of the name and arms of the sovereign house of Angelus-Comnenus".
To go with his claims, Pierangeli minted coins in cupronickel, silver and gold, and bestowed titles of nobility on friends and supporters.