Brno, Sept 19 (CTK) – A Czech court has found Barbora Havirova, 27, guilty of cheating over 53 million crowns out of a 60-year-old Norwegian man whom she met on a web with erotic services, and sentenced her to eight years in prison for a large-size fraud.
Havirova has to return the money to the Norwegian, the court decided on Monday.
Pleading not guilty of fraud, she appealed the verdict.
The prosecution says Havirova drew money from the man from March 2013 to December 2014.
They met on an erotic website, but they eventually agreed to communicate directly with each other. Havirova started drawing money from the man using various pretexts such as an expensive knee surgery, nutrition for her cat and the purchase of a car. She asserted that she will return the money to him soon.
“She told the man that she had enough financial means but they were blocked. As a result, he supplied money for her to have her own money unblocked,” the supervising state attorney said.
The Norwegian, a financial director by profession, sent the money to Havirova from the account of the company that employed him. He was sentenced to three years in prison for this unlawful action in Norway.
Havirova’s defence said the man wanted to use her to “launder” a sum he had embezzled.
“I nodded to an alleged deal offered by him. It did not occur to me that the money might have come from criminal activities,” Havirova told the court.
According to the defence, Havirova’s offence was money laundering, not a fraud. The court, nevertheless, did not accept this argument.
Havirova confessed to being a pathologic gambler and having lost most of the given sum in gambling.
The police seized about three million crowns in her accounts.
