Journalist Benita Alexander reveals a chilling clue that told her “Miracle Man” Paolo Macchiarini was a love scammer

A JOURNALIST has revealed the chilling clue that exposes her lover and famous surgeon as a fraud.

Documentary producer Benita Alexander thought it was love when her job introduced her to internationally renowned surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, who faced serious claims of forgery following a major scandal.

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Benita was pursuing a big story when the hapless lovers met in 2013.

A successful television journalist, the single mother of one child interviewed him for a major report on cutting-edge medicine.

“I was doing a story on regenerative medicine and his name kept coming up,” New York resident Benita said on a podcast called Dr. Death: Miracle Man.

Macchiarini had developed innovative surgical techniques using stem cells in synthetic tracheal transplants.

They became friends and over time she felt that she was falling for him, although her journalistic integrity hampered the romance.

“He seemed like the miracle man,” she said.

“He was a top doctor, he spoke six or seven languages.

“He was a good listener and gave me wise and solid advice.”

They became a couple in mid-2013 and “pre-engaged” in December of that year, when Macchiarini, who lived in Barcelona, ​​Spain, said he’s still legally married and has two children, but has long been separated and has his paperwork filed for divorced.

It was eight months later that they got properly engaged after Macchiarini presented her with a $100,000 ring.

The couple had planned the wedding for July 2015.

“The headline is that it started out as a beautiful love story and ended up being a total nightmare,” Benita said.

“To this day I have no idea why he lied about our entire relationship.”

‘FRAUD’

Macchiarini and Benita quickly began planning an extravagant wedding.

It was beyond Alexander’s wildest dreams – Macchiarini told her he had invited Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Elton John and that the Pope himself will oversee the ceremony.

At this point, Benita begins to sense that something is wrong.

After some investigation, it turned out that Macchiarini wasn’t the medical genius she thought he was.

In fact, the scientist has been embroiled in lawsuits and allegations at work.

“I went full investigative mode because I knew he wasn’t going to tell me the truth,” Benita said.

She found out exactly what he lied about – and it was extensive.

As the Pope’s personal physician, he had told her that the head of the Catholic Church wanted to marry the couple.

“He said he was having trouble finding a priest to marry us,” she said.

“Then he said he had ‘connections’ to the Vatican. It was not surprising to be a surgeon in Italy.

“He [the Pope] wanted to use us as a couple of posters for the Catholic Church to prove that people who are divorced can get married in the Catholic Church.”

But Benita’s intuition got the better of her, and she hired a private detective to investigate the surreal wedding.

“None of those people came,” said Benita, who tragically spotted them.

“He didn’t know Pope Francis, he wasn’t his personal physician.”

The slide from “charming prince to pathological liar” happened in just two years.

Her game of cat and mouse ended in July 2015 when she revealed to him everything she had uncovered through private investigations.

“I put everything in one message. He replied ‘wow’,” said Benita.

Macchiarini has faced legal trouble over his stem cell treatments as Swedish prosecutors recently appealed a conviction of the Italian surgeon, the AP reported.

He was tried for assault during his experimental operations, but has always denied any criminal wrongdoing.

Benita and Macchiarini’s wild relationship will be featured in a special episode on Friday on ABC’s 20/20.