Paris court condemns 6 under $ 50 million false identity scheme

PARIS – Six men who earned more than $ 50 million in a shameless and supplanted scheme by posing as a French defense minister and asking wealthy individuals and institutions to pay for false and unofficial government operations were convicted on Wednesday of fraud for a Paris criminal court.

Two of the men, Gilbert Chikli, 54, and Anthony Lasarevitsch, 35, who the researchers called the plot's intellectual authors, were sentenced to 11 years and seven years in prison and fined 2 million euros and 1 million euros ($ 2.3 million and $ 1.1 million)

Mr. Chikli reacted angrily after Wednesday's verdict, called the trial "scandal,quot; and accused prosecutors of having taken the case at the behest of Mr. Le Drian.

"You should be ashamed, prosecutor of the rich," he shouted in the courtroom.

Four other men, aged 27 to 49, suspected of varying levels of participation in the plan, received sentences of 15 months to five years in prison, sometimes suspended, as well as fines of between 40,000 and 100,000 euros. The court found a fifth man not guilty.

Prosecutors said at the trial in February that the group He impersonated Jean-Yves Le Drian, France's defense minister from 2012 to 2017, mainly on phone calls. In some cases, the group made video calls with a silicone mask and a false configuration of Mr. Le Drian's office.

The false Mr. Le Drian, under the pretext of national security, pressed the targets for millions of euros, often saying that France was negotiating a delicate and urgent release of hostages in Syria and that he could not publicly use the money of the taxpayers to pay the ransom. to the terrorists

The impostors urged secrecy and targeted a wide range of people and institutions between 2015 and 2016, including embassies in France and other countries; clergy aid groups and charities; foreign governments; the chief executives of large companies; the archbishops of Lyon and Paris; and Nicolas Hulot, a French environmentalist.

The objectives were promised that the funds would be returned, but they were urged to transfer the money quickly and discreetly to foreign accounts.

Many of the more than 150 targets saw through deception and contacted the Ministry of Defense, which alerted investigators in July 2015 that something was wrong.

But others sent the money. Three people were hooked, according to the testimony of the court: Karim Aga Khan IV, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims, who transferred more than $ 20 million in March 2016; Corinne Mentzelopoulos, owner of the prestigious winery Château Margaux, which sent more than $ 6 million that same month; and Inan Kirac, a wealthy Turkish businessman, who sent $ 47 million in November and December 2016.

The scammers also impersonated Mr. Le Drian's assistants, following phone calls with official sound email addresses and documents decorated with official-looking letterheads. Sometimes they scheduled fake appointments with Mr. Le Drian in the French Parliament, or sent fake documents from the central bank of France, with the pretense of showing that the money was being reimbursed.

Le Drian is now the Foreign Minister of President Emmanuel Macron.

Delphine Meillet, a lawyer for Mr. Le Drian, called the sentences "satisfactory."

"It is a signal to society that it is extremely serious to impersonate a minister, even more in a context as delicate as the fight against terrorism," Meillet said Wednesday.

David-Olivier Kaminski, Mr. Lasarevitsch's lawyer, accused of being the other intellectual author, said Wednesday that the sentences were "dizzyingly high,quot; for a fraud case.

"The court wants to send a signal that is completely disproportionate in financial matters," Kaminski said.

Some of the money transfers were blocked after the victims realized they had been deceived. But $ 50 million bounced from one shell account to another and have not been recovered. Investigators are still working to track the money, and defendants found guilty on Wednesday could face additional money laundering charges.

The Paris court also awarded millions of euros in damages to some of the victims: the largest amount, € 44 million, went to Mr. Kirac, the Turkish businessman. But it was not clear if investigators could recover the money.

Mr. Chikli is a Franco-Israeli bluff whose life was the subject of a movie. He was previously sentenced in 2015 to seven years in prison and a € 1 million fine for impersonating the company's executive directors and persuading unsuspecting company employees to send money for fake and top secret operations.

Mr. Chikli had fled to Israel from France before his trial on those charges, and lived for some time in Ashdod, south of Tel Aviv. But in 2017, he was arrested along with Mr. Larearevitsch in Ukraine and extradited to France.

As evidence of Mr. Chikli's participation, prosecutors noted the similarities between the scheme to impersonate the company's executives and that of impersonating Mr. Le Drian.

Mr. Chikli repeatedly denied any participation, arguing that the scam had been the work of imitators who emulated his previous schemes.

But prosecutors also noted that Google searches for terms such as "silicon mask,quot; found on Mr. Chikli's phone, and presented recordings of calls made by some of the group's most skeptical goals. Investigators also said that an analysis of the impersonator's voice showed a match with that of Mr. Chikli.