£400,000 Confiscation Order For Con Woman

A woman jailed for six years for deceiving a large number of auction houses and high value retailers has been ordered to pay a £400,000 confiscation order.

The woman, 53, a British national of Iranian/French origin who lived in London's West End and fomerly Canary Wharf, pleaded guilty to 38 counts of criminal activity including fraud, deception and concealment at Southwark Crown Court on 1st October 2008 and was produced from prison to attend a confiscation hearing on 12th January 2010.

Items in her possession at the time of her arrest included expensive jewellery, antiques and other high value goods. The Metropolitan Police investigation, headed by London RART revealed that she obtained these items by impersonating someone of extreme wealth. She would write cheques that she knew would bounce when purchasing the goods, bought from high end auctioneers.

During her persistent three year fraud, the woman presented herself as a well dressed, educated and articulate woman-the facade leading people to believe that she had the wealth to buy expensive goods, and she usually managed to collect the goods from the auctioneer before the payment even went through.

Police seized a number of items from the woman when she was arrested-most of which have been returned to their rightful owners, including:

-A cherry pendant valued at £4,400
-A pair of purple gem earrings valued at £23,850
-A diamond ring valued at £110,000
-A pearl necklace and a pair of earrings valued at £22,935
-An antique clock, chest of antique drawers, an antique table and four framed paintings valued at £67,818.96
-A hair piece, a pendant, a gold item of jewellery and a gold mirrored jewellery item valued at £11,933
-A jade and diamond pendant valued at £12,478.68

Officers from the Metropolitan Police Economic and Specialist Crime Command are now in the process of returning an additional £500,000 worth of jewellery and furniture to the rightful owners and the remaining assets worth £400,000 will now be sold to meet the confiscation handed to the woman on the 12th of January.

Detective Constable Marek Coghill from the Economic and Specialist Crime Command said: "The confiscation of these assets and a further £8000 in cash is a great result for London RART. This woman was an extremely dishonest individual, who was able to deceive and manipulate people's trust and business practices. Her criminal endeavour has led to no intrinsic gain and this case should serve as a reminder to other fraudsters that we will use our powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) to recover money through criminal activity."