Daughter Who Convinced Mother Art Collection Was Cursed, Arrested for Stealing $140 Million
A 48-year-old Brazilian woman was arrested on Wednesday after convincing her elderly mother that over $140 million worth of her stuff, including an exclusive art collection, was cursed and was going to cause her death if she didn't get rid of it.
The daughter, Sabine Coll Boghici, worked with a group of five, including a psychic, to trick her mother starting in January 2020. The mother, an 82-year-old Brazilian woman, Genevieve Boghici, contacted a delegation's service for the Elderly after realizing that her daughter had pulled a scheme.
"Civil police officers from the Special Delegation for Service to the Elderly (DEAPTI) arrested ... four members of a gang that stole more than R$ 725 million from an elderly woman, among works of art renowned artists Dos, jewelry and bank transfers," the Rio De Janeiro police said in a statement.
The art collection belonged to the mothers' late husband, Jean Boghici, who was an avid art collector. 16 pieces were stolen from the collection.
Some of the stolen paintings were by famous Brazilian artists y Do Amaral, Tarsila do Amaral and Emiliano Di Cavalcanti.
The daughter acted sick and convinced the mother to hire the psychic for "spiritual treatment." The psychic gave her the advice to give her money and artwork away.
The mother sent $970,000 between January and February of 2020 but eventually stopped after becoming suspicious.
The group then "physically" threatened the mother and kept her trapped inside her home while they continued to "take the artwork from the house, claiming that the painting was cursed with something negative, with negative energy that needed to be prayed over."
Genevieve Boghici eventually turned it over to the officials after a year and they were finally able to investigate the scam and issue arrests. All the suspects face charges of embezzlement, robbery, extortion, false imprisonment and criminal association, Reuters reported.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.