Brazilian Sabine Coll Boghici, 48, was arrested on Wednesday on allegations that she was part of a bizarre scheme to defraud her 82-year-old mother, Geneviève Boghici, the wife of the late art collector Jean Boghici, short of cash, works of art, and jewelry totaling some 724 million reais ($142.42 million).
His arrest exposed a disturbing web of fraud that police say went on for years and involved suspected psychics to scam works of art by some of Brazil’s most iconic painters. Four other people were also arrested and two others, Diana Rosa Aparecida Stanesco Vuletic and Slavko Vuletic, are on the run.
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The scam began in 2020 when Genevieve was approached by a supposed psychic with prophecies about her daughter’s impending death.
The victim was then taken to several other psychics who police say used personal information provided by her daughter to scam her distraught mother into transferring money to pay for “spiritual treatment”.
In the months that followed, police allege the suspects physically threatened Genevieve and that she was kept at home for months by her daughter.
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Sabine and an accomplice posing as a psychic “began to take the artwork from the (mother’s) home, claiming that the painting was cursed with something negative, with a negative energy on which to pray,” said Rio de Janeiro police officer Gilberto Ribeiro. .
After almost a year of abuse by Sabine and her accomplices, the victim decided to surrender to the police.
According to the police, 16 paintings were stolen, including works by renowned Brazilian artists such as Cicero Dias, Rubens Gerchman and Alberto Guignard.
Three pieces by iconic modernist painter Tarsila do Amaral – O Sono, Sol Poente and Pont Neuf – were also stolen, which together were assessed by police at a value of 700 million reais (137.69 million dollars).
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Amaral’s Sol Poente was among 11 paintings recovered Wednesday during a raid by Rio de Janeiro police on one of the medium’s homes.
Authorities also recovered three paintings in Sao Paulo. Two were sold to a museum in Buenos Aires but have not yet been found.
Police say seven people are suspected of being involved in the years-long crime, facing charges of embezzlement, robbery, extortion, forcible confinement and criminal association.
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Post expires at 1:59pm on Saturday August 20th, 2022