JUST over half-a-million dollars has been returned to the United States from a Jersey-based account, in a case involving a man who pretended to be a fictitious Saudi prince.
The Attorney General said it demonstrated that Jersey was no place for criminals to conceal their illicit assets.
Mark Temple QC was commenting on the case of Colombian-born Anthony Gignac, who was indicted by a Grand Jury in the Southern District of Florida and subsequently jailed for more than 18 years in 2019.
Gignac, a Michigan-raised resident of South Florida, pretended to be the fictional Khalid Bin Al-Saud, posting photographs of members of the real House of Saud on his Instagram account to support a bogus identity founded on fake business cards, false diplomatic licence plates on his car and a fake US diplomatic security service badge for his bodyguard.
Alongside his co-conspirators, Gignac would broker meetings between potential victims and the fictitious prince, producing documents supposedly issued by high-ranking Saudi officials, a Saudi law firm, and a Jersey-based financial entity.
To complete the illusion, Gignac would adopt traditional Saudi attire, and the meetings would always be conducted in line with traditional protocol.
In this way victims were induced to present him with expensive gifts, such as jewellery and artworks, as well as invest in fraudulent business deals.
Using the proceeds of his criminal activity, Gignac leased a two-bedroom apartment at a cost of $18,500 per month, funded the use of a private jet, and purchased a yacht, numerous luxury cars, jewellery, and designer clothing.
In addition, US authorities identified $625,000 transferred to a Jersey-based account from one held in the name of an investment company set up by Gignac and his co-conspirator.
According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, he defrauded at least 26 victims from at least five countries out of more than $8 million in a criminal career spanning more than 30 years.
On 4 February this year, the Royal Court granted a saisie judiciaire – a formal means of restraining assets – and registered the second order of forfeiture made in the US.
Part of the frozen funds were returned directly to some of Gignac’s victims, and earlier this month $528,973.72 was repatriated to the US to assist with compensating other victims.
Attorney General Mark Temple QC said: ‘Once again this case demonstrates that Jersey is no place for criminals to conceal their illicit assets, and that every effort will be made to assist our counterparts overseas in ensuring that the victims of financial crime have their rightful assets restored.’
