MILAN: The spokesman of embattled Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena has fallen to his death after investigators searched his home and office in connection with a probe.

David Rossi, 51, died Wednesday evening after falling from the third floor of the bank's headquarters. He was not under investigation himself, but his home and office were searched last month in the probe into the bank's purchase of Antonveneta bank in 2007 and losses in derivative transactions.

The bank called Rossi's death "a terrible tragedy" in a note posted on its Facebook page Thursday.

Rossi became head of the bank's communications office in 2006, following former chairman Giuseppe Mussari from the Monte dei Paschi di Siena foundation, the bank's largest shareholder. Mussari is under investigation for market manipulation and misleading regulators.