Villa, models, Ferrari

Con artist fleeced the wealthy with a lavish display

The “L’Artista della Truffa” (Con Artist) with a private jet(Bild: RSI/Screenshot)

An Austrian man (47) spun fairy tales for wealthy individuals, posing as a fellow actor of Gérard Depardieu, a pilot, and an oil magnate.

Austrian Jürgen P. (47) put on a movie-worthy show with an Irish accomplice among our Swiss neighbors. After his release from a domestic prison, P. ended up in Switzerland. There, in true Hollywood style, he slipped into various roles and gained entry into high society.

Deceived everyone with a private jet, Bentley, and bodyguards
At one point he posed as an oil tycoon, then as a pilot, and even as an acting colleague of the disgraced French screen hero Gérard Depardieu. To pull this off, he pulled out all the stops in the summer of 2023, during the Cannes Film Festival: P. rented a lavish villa, surrounded himself with hired models and bodyguards, and had exorbitantly expensive Ferraris and luxury Bentleys parked in front of his supposed home.

My client suffers from a personality disorder. This distorts his perception and his relationship with money.

Fabio Käppeli, der Schweizer Anwalt des Verdächtigen

Bild: admetam.ch

The web of lies came crashing down
With this display of luxury, he convinced those around him and swindled funds worth 25 million Swiss francs. That amounts to approximately 27.4 million euros. By the end of 2024, however, the criminal house of cards collapsed, and the Austrian was sent to prison. Last week, he was finally put on trial in Lugano, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino: he received an eight-year prison sentence for the massive million-dollar fraud. Plus a subsequent 12-year ban on entering Switzerland.

His Irish accomplice got off with three years of a partially suspended sentence, 18 months of which he will serve behind bars. After the verdict, P. promised: “I will make amends for the damage!” He will need a lot of time for that, though...