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A man from Miami, Florida in the US, has spent years pretending to be a Saudi Arabian royal so he could get people to invest millions of dollars in fraudulent business contracts.
Anthony Gignac (47) made sure he always looked sharp in expensive suits, drove a Ferrari with a false diplomatic number plate and often bragged about how his father, the king, was looking for investment opportunities, the Miami Herald reports.
But “Sultan Bin Khalid Al Saud”, as Anthony called himself, was actually born in Colombia.
He’s appeared in a Florida court and pleaded guilty on charges of identity theft and fraud, and is now facing jail time, Business Insider reports. Anthony and his co-accused have allegedly stole as much as $8 million (R100 million) from 26 victims around the world, according to the Miami Herald.
Anthony signed off on various false business transactions. In June 2015 he started an investment company called Marden Williams International LLC. In March 2017 he tried to buy a luxury hotel worth millions of dollars. But he was finally caught in November last year when he tried to travel from London to New York with a fake passport.
Anthony had already started with his criminal activities when he was 17 and was already masquerading as a prince back then, according to Business Insider. The first charges for similar crimes date as far back as 1991.
On top of that he’s broken the law in a few other US states, including Michigan, New York and California.
He’ll apparently be sentenced on 27 August, Newsweek reports.
Sources: businessinsider.com, miamaherald.com, newsweek.com
