DUBAI // A woman embezzled millions of dollars from an elderly man she claimed has adopted her, a court has heard.
RJ, an 83-year-old Frenchman, has accused SA, 30, of conning him out of US$1.5 million (Dh5.5m) and his late wife's jewellery, worth more than $1m, between 2006 and 2010. The Moroccan woman has denied the claims.
He told prosecutors that he met the woman in 2004, when she was working at a luxury hotel in Dubai at which he often stayed with his wife when he visited the country.
"After my wife passed away, my relation with her grew stronger and she convinced me to invest my money in a fitness club in Dubai," he said.
The Frenchman said he liked the idea and made several money transfers to the woman, and kept the receipts.
He claimed she used the money to buy two properties, in Dubai and Morocco, and refused to put them in his name or return the money.
"She also took my wife's jewellery, which is worth more than $1m, and never returned them," he told prosecutors.
In a letter, he told her she was living like a president's daughter on his money, and mentioned buying her two Mercedes and paying for surgeries for her parents, and a holiday for her sister in the US.
The woman said the money and some jewels were gifts because he adopted her in 2007.
"He considered me as his daughter and he gave me jewellery and money based on that," court documents quoted her as saying. "He gave me a few small-sized jewels which I gave away to my friends as presents in their weddings."
She presented an official document written and signed by the Frenchman in which he stated he adopted her in March 2007. She said he wrote her the letter when he was at her office and that there were witnesses.
The court heard man lodged his complaint on November 10 last year after the man failed to convince her to return the money.
The next hearing at the Dubai Court of Misdemeanour is scheduled for July 25.
salamir@thenational.ae
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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