Title : Fake sheikh, 48, who pretended to be a Saudi prince for three decades is jailed for 18 YEARS
link : Fake sheikh, 48, who pretended to be a Saudi prince for three decades is jailed for 18 YEARS
Fake sheikh, 48, who pretended to be a Saudi prince for three decades is jailed for 18 YEARS
Fake sheikh, 48, who swindled $8 million from investors over three DECADES and flaunted his lavish lifestyle on Instagram boasting about his Saudi royal 'family' is jailed for 18 YEARS
- Anthony Gignac, a 48-year-old Miami con man has been sentenced to 18.5 years in prison for impersonating Saudi royalty to fraudulently obtain $8m
- Prosecutors say Gignac has been arrested at least 11 times over the past 30 years for impersonating Saudi royalty, spending much of his time in and out of prison
- For the most part of his criminal enterprising, Gignac impersonated Prince Khalid, who in real-life is the 79-year-old governor of Mecca
- He admitted responsibility to the judge for illegally fleecing in excess of $8.1 million from his unsuspecting victims, but he insisted ‘I’m not a monster’
- Prior to his final arrest in late 2017, Gignac lived a life of profound wealth, driving a red Ferrari and donning Cartier bracelets worth tens-of-thousands of dollars
For three decades, a man who fraudulently claimed to be Prince Sultan Bin Khalid Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia lived a lavish life fueled by Rolex watches, Ferrari sports cars and designer clothing – but the veil used to conceal his real identity slipped on Friday when he was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
His real name is Anthony Gignac, a 48-year-old Miami con man with a mixed personality disorder who was born in Bogota, Columbia – not Saudi Arabia as he so regularly claimed.
Prosecutors say that Gignac has been arrested at least 11 times over the past 30 years for impersonating Saudi royalty, spending much of his time in and out of prison.
For the most part of his criminal enterprising, Gignac impersonated Prince Khalid, who in real-life is the 79-year-old governor of Mecca.
'I'm not a monster': Anthony Gignac, a 48-year-old Miami con man was sentenced to 18.5 years in prison on Friday for impersonating Saudi royalty to fraudulently obtain $8.1 million
For the most part of his criminal enterprising, Gignac impersonated Prince Khalid, who in real-life is the 79-year-old governor of Mecca
But on Friday, the long-running act came to a sensational end when a Miami federal court judge sentenced him to 18-and-a-half years in prison for defrauding dozens of investors – ranging from South Florida to England – in elaborate schemes where he posed as Saudi royalty looking for substantial investment projects.
He admitted responsibility to the judge for illegally fleecing in excess of $8.1 million from his 26 unsuspecting victims, but he insisted ‘I’m not a monster’.
Attempting to mitigate his sentence, Gignac revealed to the court that he suffers from a number of mental health problems stemming from an abusive childhood both in Bogota and with his adoptive family in Michigan.
He insisted he wasn’t the lone mastermind of the operation, claiming to have worked among a racket of criminals who collaborated with him in the devious schemes.
Gignac declared there were ‘other people’ who should’ve been standing alongside him in the dock.
US District Judge Cecilia Altonaga called Gignac’s criminal resume ‘truly remarkable’.
‘He was the mastermind,’ the judge declared. ‘He was the so-called Saudi prince. He enveloped himself in the trappings of Saudi royalty. He had everyone believing he was a Saudi Prince.’
Prior to his final arrest in late 2017, Gignac lived a life of profound wealth, driving a red Ferrari, donning Cartier bracelets worth tens-of-thousands of dollars and leasing an exclusive penthouse apartment in Miami – with many of his extravagant trappings documented on his Instagram ‘@PrinceDubai_07’
Many of his posts show his diamond embellished fingertips caressing the steering wheels of various sports cars. Gignac would also flaunt massive stacks of cash on his social media, with one post captioned: 'Birthday gifts from my fam' (right) showing at least $70,000 with two diamond encrusted watches hanging over the wads.
Prior to his final arrest in late 2017, Gignac lived a life of profound wealth, driving a red Ferrari, donning Cartier bracelets worth tens-of-thousands of dollars and leasing an exclusive penthouse apartment in Miami – with many of his extravagant trappings documented on his Instagram ‘@PrinceDubai_07’
Many of his posts show his diamond embellished fingertips caressing the steering wheels of various sports cars. Others show his beloved Chihuahua Foxy sitting in her Louis Vuitton carrier case dressed in designer clothing.
Gignac would also flaunt massive stacks of cash on his social media, with one post captioned: 'Birthday gifts from my fam' showing at least $70,000 with two diamond encrusted watches hanging over the wads.
He bought fake diplomatic license plates for his cars and fake Diplomatic Security Service badges for his bodyguards, prosecutors said.
He handed out business cards that referred to himself as ‘prince,’ ‘his royal highness’ and 'sultan.' When he met with investors, he demanded expensive gifts as part of 'royal protocol'.
Prosecutor Frederic Shadley told the courtroom that Gignac – birth name Anthony Moreno – was determined to live a life of opulence regardless of the cost to his victims.
And now the luxurious trinkets he once so unabashedly flaunted on social media will now be auctioned off and sold to raise funds to reimburse the victims he conned into paying for them.
He admitted responsibility to the judge for illegally fleecing in excess of $8.1 million from his 26 unsuspecting victims, but he insisted ‘I’m not a monster’.
He bought fake diplomatic license plates for his cars and fake Diplomatic Security Service badges for his bodyguards, prosecutors said.
Others posts show his beloved Chihuahua Foxy sitting in her Louis Vuitton carrier case dressed in designer clothing
Gignac handed out business cards that referred to himself as ‘prince,’ ‘his royal highness’ and 'sultan' (pictured: Gignac's alleged collection of car keys)
Shadley insisted Gignac was ‘not sorry’ for the lives he destroyed throughout his various investment scams and ‘will do it again’ in a heartbeat as soon as the next opportunity arrives.
Gignac’s public defender, Ayana Harris, however attempted to elicit sympathy for her client, stressing him to be a troubled individual as a result of a number of traumatic moments in his childhood.
In a previous hearing, Gignac claimed he was forced to beg and steal on the streets of Bogota just to keep himself and his three-year-old brother alive.
He once claimed under oath he was sold to have sex with men, and was raped at the age of five, before he and his sibling were adopted into a family in Michigan
‘This horrific history is the underlying reason for his criminal life,’ his younger brother Daniel Gignac concluded in a written statement.
After Gignac’s arrest in 2017, his business manager Carl Williamson committed suicide. Before his tragic death Williamson also claims to have been duped by Gignac.
According to prosecutors, Gignac’s long-running scheme began when he moved to California in 1987, where he obtained a state ID bearing the name Khalid al-Saud.
Several decades of deception, impersonation and conniving schemes would follow soon after.
After Gignac’s arrest in 2017, his business manager Carl Williamson committed suicide. Before his tragic death Williamson also claims to have been duped by Gignac
In late March 2017, Gignac targeted fresh and wealthier prey in Miami. Posing as a Saudi prince with $600 million in the bang, the 48-year-old went shopping for a hotel to purchase, later setting his sights on the Fontainebleau resort hotel on Miami Beach.
In 1991, Gignac was branded the ‘Prince of Fraud’ in a Los Angeles Times article, after he pleaded no contest to shafting a limousine company and the Beverly Wilshire Hotel out of $10,000.
His scams also took place in his childhood state, Michigan, where in 2006 he pleaded guilty to attempting to charge $28,000 in purchases at Saks Fifth Avenue to the bank account of an actual Saudi royal.
He also attempted to withdraw $3.9 million from a Citibank account that didn’t exist.
Then in late March 2017, Gignac targeted fresh and wealthier prey in Miami. Posing as a Saudi prince with $600 million in the bank, the 48-year-old went shopping for a hotel to purchase, later setting his sights on the Fontainebleau resort hotel on Miami Beach.
While pondering his fake interest in buying the hotel, Gignac attempted to snooker the resorts owner, Jeffrey Soffer, and a number of other investors into paying for his lavish lifestyle.
Under his alias ‘Sultan Bin Khalid Al-Saud’, Gignac told Soffer he wanted to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the Fontainebleau hotel.
At first, Soffer fell for Gignac’s acts even spending more than $50,000 to shower him with immoderate gifts.
Then in late March 2017, Gignac targeted fresh and wealthier prey in Miami. Posing as a Saudi prince with $600 million in the bank, the 48-year-old went shopping for a hotel to purchase, later setting his sights on the Fontainebleau resort hotel on Miami Beach
But as the months of negotiations progressed, Soffer grew wise to Gignac’s insincerity and asked his security team to run checks on the supposed ‘billionaire prince’.
One of the giveaways, bizarrely, was that Soffer noticed Gignac eating bacon and sausages during some of their business lunches, suggesting he wasn’t the devout Muslim prince he was portraying himself to be.
Soffer’s investigators soon learned the truth, and a federal investigation was launched shortly afterwards.
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