Brazilian daughter cons mother for $100m - police
STORY: A Brazilian woman has been arrested on allegations of having conned her own mother out of 142 million U.S. dollars.
Police have recovered 16 paintings they say were stolen - including three from iconic modernist painter Tarsila do Amaral - valued at almost 138 million U.S dollars.
Sabine Coll Boghici is accused of defrauding 82-year-old Genevieve Boghici, the widow of an art collector, out of money, artwork, and jewelry.
Police say the scam began in 2020 when Genevieve was approached by a supposed psychic with prophecies of her daughter's imminent death.
It's believed personal information provided by her daughter was used to scam the distraught mother into transferring money to pay for "spiritual treatment."
All the while, Sabine and an accomplice, were removing artwork from her house, as this police officer on the case explains:
"The daughter (of the victim) and Rosa (Diana Rosa Aparecida Stanesco Vuletic) began to take the artwork from the (mother's) house, claiming that the painting was cursed with something negative, with negative energy that needed to be prayed over. So they took the old woman to see it, knowing that this was not true, but she could not refuse."
After a year, the victim turned to the police.
Police say seven people are suspected of involvement, facing charges of embezzlement, robbery, extortion, false imprisonment and criminal association.