Hargobind Tahilramani: ‘Con queen of Hollywood who impersonated movie bosses in $1m fraud’ could be extradited to US, British choose guidelines
A person labelled the “con queen of Hollywood” after allegedly impersonating film bosses throughout a seven-year fraud scheme could be extradited to the US, a British choose has dominated.
Hargobind Tahilramani, who was arrested in 2020 in a Manchester resort the place he claimed to be a Netflix author, is accused of conning over 300 victims, together with actors, screenwriters and photographers, out of greater than $1m (£800,000).
The 43-year-old allegedly mimicked the voices of key figures, together with producers working for The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan, to supply non-existent movie work.
Indonesian nationwide Tahilramani, who was detained after an FBI investigation, is alleged to have pretended to be American movie producer Megan Ellison, her mom Barbara Boothe, and Hollywood govt Amy Pascal in telephone calls, emails and textual content messages.
He would persuade his victims to fund their very own flights to Indonesia for tasks that did not exist and as soon as there, they might be pressured to pay for exorbitant bills which have been by no means paid again, it’s alleged.
The US accuses the defendant of eight expenses, together with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud and 5 counts of aggravated id theft – which carry years behind bars if convicted.
During his extradition proceedings final 12 months, Tahilramani mentioned he lived a sham life as a result of he’s homosexual and claimed that he was a sufferer of a conspiracy by American prosecutors.
“At its heart, this is an old-fashioned advanced fees fraud,” Joel Smith, who represented the US, informed Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring has now accredited his extradition and despatched the case to Home Secretary Suella Braverman for a choice.
Among the alleged victims was New York-based screenwriter Greg Mandarano who was mentioned to have been scammed out of $80,000 (£64,400) by Tahilramani posing as movie producer Jean Pritzker.
Tahilramani, pretending to be Ms Pritzker, provided sexual favours to Mr Mandarano and tried to get him to ship recordings of himself, based on Mr Smith.
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Freelance photographer Will Strathman was emailed by Tahilramani posing as Amy Pascal, and was persuaded to journey to Indonesia to direct a Netflix journey collection, the court docket heard.
He allegedly paid nearly £40,000 in fictional bills throughout three journeys in 2017.
Los-Angeles primarily based Dan Considine acquired a textual content message in May 2020 purportedly from Thomas Hayslip – a producer working with Inception and Tenet director Nolan.
The court docket heard he spoke to Tahilramani, who was posing as one other producer, “Dana Walden”, who persuaded Mr Considine to ship audition tapes and pay about $7,000 (£5,600) for martial arts coaching movies, in an try and land a job in a Nolan film.
“Mr Considine never received any videos and the audition was a sham,” mentioned Mr Smith.
Giving proof, Tahilramani mentioned he was born in Jakarta, the son of “one of the most renowned producers in Indonesia”, grew up within the US and has frolicked in Singapore.
“I’m an interesting person,” Tahilramani mentioned. “They want to make films out of me, they want to make television.”
He claimed he shouldn’t be extradited as a result of a considerable amount of the alleged conduct occurred whereas he was within the UK and wouldn’t be within the pursuits of justice.