We knew the administrative millefeuille. Appears in the Principality a new specialty of the genre, more criminal than bureaucratic, consisting of a single genuine banknote worth 200 euros on the top and ninety-nine other lower layers of counterfeit banknotes of the same sum.
In the case mentioned before the criminal court, such a process makes it possible to give a possible beneficiary, in the context of a purchase, an artificial sum of 200,000 euros. A fraud offense charged against a 48-year-old Dutch national, car salesman in Milan and father of five children. After fifteen days of deliberation, the defendant, absent on the day of the decision, was sentenced to one year in prison and an arrest warrant.
“I did not know the contents of the bag”
Bring them up to 1uh February 2021. Around 1:50 p.m., a Mercedes, engine running, is stationary on the avenue de Grande-Bretagne. In the cabin, apart from the driver, two people are talking. A police officer on duty notices them and immediately performs an identity check. The agent is also interested in the contents of the trunk of the vehicle. He discovers a satchel in which are stored ten bundles of one hundred 200 euro notes. Very quickly, he realizes the deception. Only the first note is authentic. The others are vulgar facsimiles.
Placed in police custody, the two individuals dispute any ownership of the misleading loot. Their route on Monegasque territory is exploited thanks to video surveillance.
According to the images, three people from Ventimiglia passed through the Café de Paris, the Hermitage and the Métropole. Then, one of them leaves the Fairmont by taxi to reach Cannes. We find the other two individuals in the limousine driving by a VTC driver at the Louboutin store…
In this file, sufficiently complex, instructed with meticulousness, the president Jérôme Fougeras Lavergnolle is thus interested in the second character. Met in Rome in a gypsy camp, and known by the first name of Maximiliano, he would have proposed to the Dutch defendant, to accompany him to Monaco to do “tourism and seeing girls”.
And the bag? “She does not belong to me! I did not know its contents when the third man pointed it out to me to put it in the car”says the 40-year-old.
“However, according to the testimony of the exonerated driver, notes the President, you were leading the conversation. You have no history in France or Monaco. On the other hand, you have been sentenced for acts of aggravated theft; association of criminals, fraud for the purchase of watches with counterfeit money in Italy. You are wanted in Germany under several aliases for burglary. Finally, you are known to have been detained in the Netherlands for fifty-two financial crimes, nine cases of violence, three weapon offenses and fourteen other unlisted acts of delinquency.
The Dutchman an answer to everything: “These are miscarriages of justice…”
An involuntary confession in prison
What about the cell phone, where investigators found photos of Rolex and banknotes? “I like nice watches and the silver snaps were sent to me by friends.”
However, the cuts discovered in the satchel speak for the magistrate: “The numbers of the counterfeit notes corresponding to those used in 2020 in various “rip deal” files. In a telephone conversation with your wife during your detention, from February 3 to May 31, 2021, she evokes a situation entirely your fault, because you came to Monaco to take your part. What did she mean?”
Nothing for the respondent who claims that the interpreter could not understand the proposals expressed, different if it is the language of Serbia or Romania. Such casualness borders on impertinence and annoys the president: “Could he have translated a speech he didn’t want?”
“Enter the Path of Relaxation”
The prosecution appears equally convinced of the preparation of a scam. “Mr disputesnotes substitute Emmanuelle Carniello. Or, he is perfectly aware of buying with counterfeit money what he covets. There are references to cuts consistent with criminal proceedings abroad. How can he live with five children and an annual income of €10,000? He had come to Monaco to try his luck and send this money back as payment. Sentence him to eight months in prison.”
Speech to the defense. Me Gérard Baudoux, from the Nice Bar, denounces any attempt to attack a luxury brand in the Principality. “The intention to constitute a fraud in an organized gang is suppressed. Still, there must be an association or agreement. The driver got a dismissal. There is nothing to confirm that my client knows that one constantly sees with the satchel. When we organize this kind of operation, the clothing must match. Or the defendant is rather simply accommodated. It is not this detail, but it is professional experience that makes me doubt his guilt. Did he know Maximiliano’s intentions? As for the information provided on my client, they concern me. If he cannot apply for the first prizes of virtues, no condemnation appears on his records. You don’t build a criminal case with speculation. Enter the path of relaxation.”
The court preferred to draw inspiration from the requisitions of the public prosecutor with a quantum of a firm and an arrest warrant. Would the lawyer think about a possible appeal?