Brazilian woman dupes mother of artwork worth over $100 million
India Today
A 48-year-old Brazilian woman has been arrested for stealing artwork worth more than $100 million from her mother.
A 48-year-old Brazilian woman has been arrested for stealing artwork worth more than $100 million from her mother.
Sabine Coll Boghici, defrauded her 82-year-old mother, Genevieve Boghici, the wife of the late art collector Jean Boghici who died in 2015, out of money, artwork, and jewelry totaling some 724 million reais ($142.42 million) in a months-long scheme.
Sabine stole 16 paintings along with six alleged accomplices, four of whom were also arrested. Two others, Diana Rosa Aparecida Stanesco Vuletic and Slavko Vuletic, are on the run. The paintings included works by Brazilian masters Tarsila do Amaral and Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, local media reports said.
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Her arrest has exposed a racket that police say lasted years and involved alleged psychics to swindle artwork by some of Brazil's most emblematic painters.
The scam began in 2020 when Genevieve was approached by a supposed psychic with prophecies of her daughter's imminent death.
The victim was then taken to several more psychics, who police say, used personal information provided by her daughter to scam her distraught mother into transferring money to pay for "spiritual treatment."