French star Dany Boon has been reported to be scammed by an Irish lord to the tune $6.8 million. He is currently battling the Dublin courts for his money back.
The Welcome to The SticksAnd Nothing to Declare star claims to have fallen prey to a man called Thierry Fialek Birles, who has several aliases including Terry Birles and Thierry Waterford-Mandeville.
Boon’s Irish lawyer Rossa Fanning SC told the High Court in Dublin earlier in July that Birles had embezzled Boon via an elaborate network of bogus companies. Birles said that the star was first met by a mutual sailing contact while looking for someone who could renovate his classic yacht Umaren.
Reports of the case have started emerging in the Irish and French media in recent days following the lifting of an embargo put in place while Boon’s legal team raced to put a temporary order in place freezing the accused’s assets.
Boon claims Birles told him he was a partner in a company called the South Sea Merchant’s Mariners Ltd Partnership (SSMM) that had been in his family for a century. He convinced Boon that he was a member of an Irish aristocratic family.
A detailed report by The Irish Examiner, Boon claims to have paid €2.2m to SSMM for the renovation of his yacht and then advanced another €4.5m for investment in a Bank of Ireland-backed fund offering tax-free, high rates of interest, on Birles’ advice.
After the payments were made, Birles informed Boon that SSMM was acquired by Rossi’s Italian family, but that he would still be an advisor.
He told Boon that he was fired and advised him to sue for the money. Boon inquired and was informed by a third party connected to the Rossi family, that his money was wired to accounts located in South Korea or Panama.
Boon was then tipped by someone who had been defrauded in the past by Birles. Fanning stated that Boon had done an extensive investigation to determine the location of the missing $6.8m, before taking the case to trial.
The investigation revealed neither the Rossi families nor the Bank of Ireland investment scheme existed. Boon had also been in touch with Birles, the third Rossi family member. Boon also discovered that an insurance company Boon suggested to use to protect the yacht was actually a Samoa hardware store.
Boon’s lawyers have since put obtained a temporary court order freezing Birles’s company and personal assets, which include a large country property and a yacht in an Irish port.
Birles, who is reported to be somewhere in the Caribbean, denies the charges. After the September long summer recess, Birles will reportedly deny the charges.