Aug 17, 2018

Psychic accused of scamming clients out of $800K arrested again

Ann Thompson Erik Thomas/NY Post
Ann Thompson
Rebecca Rosenberg
NY Post
August 16, 2018


She should have seen this coming.

A Midtown psychic already charged with swindling $800,000 from two clients was re-arrested Thursday for scamming more than 10 additional victims.

Ann Thompson, 42, pleaded not guilty Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court to 17 counts, including scheme to defraud, grand larceny and forgery.

Prosecutor Michael Lumley said that Thompson had duped over a dozen victims into handing over more than $1 million in the last five years.

She operated out of the storefront “Psychic Zoe” on West 35th Street near Seventh Ave, telling her marks that they “suffered from a number of psychic maladies which she could cure,” according to the complaint.

The New Jersey native swindled a Canadian woman for $740,000, insisting that she purchase gold coins to be placed in a makeshift temple to “help protect [her] from danger,” the complaint says.

Lumley called Thompson a “con artist” who preyed on vulnerable customers and asked Justice Gregory Carro to hike her $50,000 bail.

Defense lawyer Robert Gottlieb called her a “spiritual adviser” and argued that many of her clients refused to cooperate with the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation because they viewed her as a friend.

The attorney said she wasn’t a flight risk and almost never traveled out of state, but Lumley, who has poured over five years of her financial records, challenged that assertion.

“There are expenditures out of state all the time,” he said. “They go to casinos. They go to Atlantic City all the time.”

The judge said that the new charges could expose her to a significant prison sentence and ordered her held on $250,000 bond.

https://nypost.com/2018/08/16/psychic-accused-of-scamming-clients-out-of-800k-arrested-again/

No comments: