Pescara, Italy - An Italian man suspected of helping a Swiss gigolo blackmail several rich women, including German BMW car heiress Susanne Klatten, appeared briefly in an Italian court Tuesday where he denied any wrongdoing.

A preliminary hearing involving the 69-year-old Ernano Barretta was postponed until April 9 on a technicality related to the choice of the presiding magistrate.

"What has been said about me are lies," Barretta told reporters as he left a courthouse in the central town of Pescara.