Hargobind Tahilramani: ‘Con queen of Hollywood who impersonated film bosses in $1m fraud’ can be extradited to US, British judge rules
A man labelled the “con queen of Hollywood” after allegedly impersonating movie bosses during a seven-year fraud scheme can be extradited to the US, a British judge has ruled.
Hargobind Tahilramani, who was arrested in 2020 in a Manchester hotel where he claimed to be a Netflix writer, is accused of conning over 300 victims, including actors, screenwriters and photographers, out of more than $1m (£800,000).
The 43-year-old allegedly mimicked the voices of key figures, including producers working for The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan, to offer non-existent film work.
Indonesian national Tahilramani, who was detained after an FBI investigation, is said to have pretended to be American film producer Megan Ellison, her mother Barbara Boothe, and Hollywood executive Amy Pascal in phone calls, emails and text messages.
He would convince his victims to fund their own flights to Indonesia for projects that didn’t exist and once there, they would be pressured to pay for exorbitant expenses which were never paid back, it is alleged.
The US accuses the defendant of eight charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud and five counts of aggravated identity theft – which carry years behind bars if convicted.
During his extradition proceedings last year, Tahilramani said he lived a sham life because he is gay and claimed that he was a victim of a conspiracy by American prosecutors.
“At its heart, this is an old-fashioned advanced fees fraud,” Joel Smith, who represented the US, told Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring has now approved his extradition and sent the case to Home Secretary Suella Braverman for a decision.
Among the alleged victims was New York-based screenwriter Greg Mandarano who was said to have been scammed out of $80,000 (£64,400) by Tahilramani posing as film producer Jean Pritzker.
Tahilramani, pretending to be Ms Pritzker, offered sexual favours to Mr Mandarano and tried to get him to send recordings of himself, according to Mr Smith.
Read More: ‘Con queen of Hollywood’ is arrested
Freelance photographer Will Strathman was emailed by Tahilramani posing as Amy Pascal, and was persuaded to travel to Indonesia to direct a Netflix travel series, the court heard.
He allegedly paid almost £40,000 in fictional expenses during three trips in 2017.
Los-Angeles based Dan Considine got a text message in May 2020 purportedly from Thomas Hayslip – a producer working with Inception and Tenet director Nolan.
The court heard he spoke to Tahilramani, who was posing as another producer, “Dana Walden”, who persuaded Mr Considine to send audition tapes and pay about $7,000 (£5,600) for martial arts training videos, in an attempt to land a role in a Nolan movie.
“Mr Considine never received any videos and the audition was a sham,” said Mr Smith.
Giving evidence, Tahilramani said he was born in Jakarta, the son of “one of the most renowned producers in Indonesia”, grew up in the US and has spent time in Singapore.
“I’m an interesting person,” Tahilramani said. “They want to make films out of me, they want to make television.”
He claimed he should not be extradited because a large amount of the alleged conduct happened while he was in the UK and would not be in the interests of justice.
Donald Trump has suggested “homegrown criminals” in the US could be deported to jails in El Salvador – saying the US attorney general is “studying the laws right now”.
He made the comment while speaking alongside the Central American nation’s president, Nayib Bukele, in the White House.
The Trump administration has sent hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members to CECOT, a maximum security prison in El Salvador, since March.
When asked about the deportations – which were briefly blocked by a US court last month – Mr Trump said: “I’d like to go a step further.
“We also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, hit elderly ladies on the back of the head when they’re not looking, that are absolute monsters.
“I’d like to include them in people to get out of the country.”
Pic: Reuters
When pressed on the matter by a reporter, he replied: “They’re as bad as anybody that comes in. We have bad ones too. I’m all for it.”
US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was present at the meeting, is “studying the laws right now”, the US president added.
“If we can do that, that’s good,” he said. “I’m talking about violent people, really bad people.
“We can do things with the president [of El Salvador] for less money and have great security. He does a great job with that. We have other we’re negotiating with too.”
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The Trump administration has been deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members to the El Salvador jail since mid-March, when the US president signed the Alien Enemies Act.
The law from 1798 has been invoked just three times before, in wartime. It allows the president to detain and deport immigrants living in the US legally if they are from countries seen as “enemies” of the government.
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Lawyers and immigrant rights groups have been unable to contact the men sent to the 40,000 capacity CECOT prison – the largest detention facility in Latin America.
A judge issued a temporary block on the deportations on 17 March, but this was lifted by the Supreme Court last week.
US
Donald Trump blames Volodymyr Zelenskyy for starting Ukraine war – a day after dozens killed in Russian missile strikes
Donald Trump has questioned Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s competence and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia which is “20 times” its size.
The US president also said “millions of people are dead because of three people” – blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin, his White House predecessor Joe Biden, and Mr Zelenskyy, in that order.
It comes a day after 35 people, including two children, were killed by two Russian missiles that struck the northeastern city of Sumy as Ukrainians gathered to celebrate Palm Sunday in what was the deadliest strike on the country so far this year, according to officials.
Ukraine latest updates: Trump points finger over war
Damaged cars at the site of a Russian missile strike on Sumy. Pic: Reuters
Speaking in the White House’s Oval Office during a meeting with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, Mr Trump told reporters: “If Biden were competent, and if Zelenskyy were competent, and I don’t know that he is…
“There was no way that war should never have been allowed to happen.”
He added: “Biden could have stopped it, and Zelenskyy could have stopped it, and Putin should have never started it.”
Asked about Mr Zelenskyy, Mr Trump said: “When you start a war you’ve got to know you can win the war.
“You don’t start a war against somebody that’s 20 times your size. And then hope that people give you some missiles.”
Mr Trump said he was the first to give Ukraine Javelin missiles.
Firefighters work at the site of a Russian missile strike in Sumy on Sunday. Pic: Reuters
“Millions of people are dead because of three people,” Mr Trump added.
“Let’s say Putin number one, let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, number two, and Zelenskyy.
“And all I can do is try and stop it – that’s all I want to do. I want to stop the killing.
“And I think we’re doing well in that regard. I think you’ll have some very good proposals very soon.”
Mr Zelenskyy has called for a global response to the Sumy attack, in which more than 100 people were injured, saying the first strike hit university buildings while the second exploded above street level.
On Monday, Ukraine’s air force said a new Russian missile and guided bombs had targeted Sumy, but gave no indication of casualties or damage. Public broadcaster Suspilne reported an explosion in the city, with no further details.
‘It’s a horrible thing’
Asked about Sunday’s Sumy attack which is near the Russian border, Mr Trump earlier said on board Air Force One: “I think it was terrible and I was told they made a mistake, but I think it’s a horrible thing. I think the whole war is a horrible thing.”
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Russia ‘made a mistake’
When questioned about the incident, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s forces only strike military targets.
The strike targeted a gathering of senior military officers, according to the defence ministry in Moscow which accused Kyiv of using civilians as shields by holding military meetings in the city centre.
The ministry also claimed to have killed more than 60 troops. Russia did not provide any evidence to support its claims.
Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski, whose country currently holds the EU’s presidency, said that recent attacks are “Russia’s mocking answer” to Kyiv’s agreement to a ceasefire proposed by the US administration over a month ago.
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Missile attack on Sumy
What’s the latest on proposed ceasefire?
The attack on Sumy followed a missile strike on 4 April on Mr Zelenskyy’s home city of Kryvyi Rih that killed some 20 people, including nine children.
Russia and Ukraine’s senior diplomats have accused each other of violating a tentative US-brokered deal to pause strikes on energy infrastructure.
Ukraine has endorsed a broader US ceasefire proposal, but Russia has effectively blocked it by imposing far-reaching conditions.
Mr Putin has said he wants Ukraine to drop its ambitions to join NATO, Russia to control the entirety of the four Ukrainian regions it has claimed as its own, and the size of the Ukrainian army to be limited. He has also made clear he wants Western sanctions eased.
Katy Perry has blasted off to space along with five other women in the first all-female space crew in over sixty years.
The Firework singer lifted off from West Texas on a Blue Origin rocket before becoming the first artist to sing in space.
Flying alongside Perry were author Lauren Sanchez, the fiancee of Blue Origin owner and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, journalist and TV presenter Gayle King, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, former rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and filmmaker Kerianne Flynn.
Katy Perry rings a symbolic bell before boarding the New Shepard rocket. Pic: Blue Origin
(Seated left to right) Lauren Sanchez and Kerianne Flynn, (standing left to right) Amanda Nguyen, Katy Perry, Gayle King and Aisha Bowe. Pic: Blue Origin
The star-studded crew were supported on the ground by family and friends including Kris Jenner, Khloe Kardashian and Oprah Winfrey, who said she had “never been more proud” of her friend, King.
“There’s only one time all the women are going up for the first time,” Oprah said she told her friend when urging her to go on the flight, telling her she’d regret turning down the opportunity.
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Kardashians share support for all-female crew
Weightlessness
The crew were weightless for just four minutes after passing the Karman line, a 62-mile-high boundary that is internationally recognised as the boundary of space.
Pic: Blue Origin
They could be heard screaming as they began to feel weightless, and told each other to look at the incredible views of the moon.
As the crew were leaving space, Perry started to sing What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong.
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‘I feel super-connected to love’
Asked why she chose that song, she said: “It’s not about me or about me singing my songs, it was about a collective energy in there.
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“It’s about this wonderful world that we see right out there and appreciating it.”
She confirmed she will be writing a song about the experience.
Katy Perry kisses the ground after the flight. Pic: Blue Origin
The descent
Three parachutes on their capsule opened up to bring them safely back down to Earth and just before they landed, an air cushion blew a cloud of dust up in the west Texas desert, giving a dramatic-looking touchdown.
Pic: Blue Origin
Pic: Blue Origin
“Excited as I am, I’ll be very glad when we come back down,” said self-confessed nervous flier King before liftoff.
When she exited the shuttle, the presenter kissed the floor and said: “Thank you, Jesus”.
She said it was “oddly quiet” in space, and it reminded her that people needed to “do better and be better” on Earth.
“It was the most incredible experience of my life to be up there and see such vast darkness in space and look down on our planet,” said Flynn, through tears.
“The moon was so beautiful and I feel like that was a special gift just for me,” she said.
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