A fortune teller believed to be linked to a sophisticated Bulgarian organised crime network may have helped con a Catholic charity out of £51million after preying on the ‘psychological fragility’ of its financial director, investigators believe.
The scam came to light when criminals posing as Caritas executive Mark Crochet emptied 14 bank accounts set up in Spain, having ordered Caritas Luxembourg’s financial chief to make some 120 transfers of €500,000 over five months.
The public prosecutor’s office in Luxembourg believes the plot was the work of a complex criminal organisation. But to date, the only person charged in the case is the unnamed financial director, for having drawn up false documents.
She is alleged to have confided sensitive details about the company to a ‘clairvoyant operating in Belgium’ but headquartered in Spain, telling the scammer about her professional challenges and the organisation’s weaknesses before the information was passed on to a crime group, local media reports.
‘She confides to her interlocutor the secrets about her private and family life and talks about her professional problems, the weaknesses of the organisation, her mental load,’ news outlet Reporter claimed.
File. The scammer based in Belgium is believed to have passed info on to scammers in Bulgaria
File. Investigators held their first special parliamentary committee on the scandal this week
The criminals allegedly used information passed on by the ‘fortune teller’ to take ‘advantage’ of her ‘psychological fragility’ and the organisation’s ‘weakness of governance’ to pilfer €61million over a period of several months.
The public prosecutor’s office has declined to comment on the latest allegations, linking the plot to a clairvoyant in Belgium.
They said earlier this month the investigation was still working on the theory that a gang had posed as the president to extract funds the actual president says amounts to Caritas Luxembourg’s entire annual budget.
And a first special parliamentary committee on the scandal held its first meeting on Wednesday this week.
Investigators believe about 25 million euros have since been sent to China, 10 million to Hong Kong and eight million to Lithuania.
“Since the initial complaint was lodged, investigators from the criminal investigation department, under the direction of the investigating judge, have been working closely with the Financial Intelligence Unit (CRF),” the office said.
“The ongoing investigation has identified more than 8,200 transactions, carried out at very short intervals, to hundreds of accounts opened in a multitude of countries around the world, reinforcing the presumption that a criminal association or organization is involved in this fraud.”
“At this stage, some 15 requests for mutual assistance have been sent by the investigating judge to his foreign counterparts.
‘The foreign authorities’ response is crucial to the outcome of the investigations.”
It is still unclear to prosecutors whether any of the funds can be recouped, months after the scam first came to light in July.
Caritas Luxembourg first filed the complaint on July 16, prompting a full judicial investigation into a number of suspected crimes including forgery, fraud, breach of trust, and money laundering.
The affair took another turn when the former chief financial officer handed herself into police over the summer, reported by the Luxembourg Times.
She remains under investigation and is helping with the ongoing investigation, the outlet reports.
Mark Crochet acknowledged the scale of the operation at the time.
Caritas chief executive Mark Caritas acknowledged the fraud was ‘very big’
Caritas Luxembourg lost the equivalent of its entire annual budget in the scam (HQ pictured)
Caritas is a confederation of 162 relief, development and social services organisations.
It works in over 200 countries and territories globally to ‘end poverty, promote justice and restore dignity’ through aid programmes.
The group continues to help civilians caught in conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine and Sudan.
The scandal is not the first time a fortune teller has been accused of conning unwitting customers out of fortunes.
In 2011, prosecutors in a separate case said ten ‘psychic readers’ in the US had scammed several customers out of a total $40mn by telling them they would be ‘haunted’ if they refused.
Jude Deveraux, the author of 37 New York Times bestsellers, was reported to have given $20mn to the group, according to sources with knowledge of the case.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
