Convicted of having defrauded 167,000 euros, a young woman ‘‘manipulates justice’’ to the point that her victim can recover practically nothing.
Marcel leads a peaceful life in the Alps. Single, in his forties, he has a quiet job and a quiet private life. In short, he is not dealing with major worries about money, work or love. But this daily routine is tasteless and colorless. Like many French people, Marcel is interested in occult sciences. This led him to meet, in Sion in Switzerland, Father Jean Bosco. This Capuchin priest detects a devious evil in Marcel and frees him with the help of exorcism prayers. But the priest is old and hands Marcel over to the care of Father Jean René at the Saint Irénée reception center in Paris. Needless to say, the actions of Fathers Bosco and René are completely voluntary. Whether one believes in the spell or not, these prayers can only do good and neither Marcel’s life nor his wallet are put in danger.
But in 1995, a friend of Marcel advised him to contact Christiane, a clairvoyant from Le Havre. Like all psychic thugs, Christelle P. has more than one string to her bow: she is a clairvoyant, medium, astrologer, numerologist… Marcel therefore contacts Christelle P. by telephone and tells her his story. Christelle P. immediately understands that Marcel is waiting for something and she decides to take charge of her life, without forgetting her money. Faced with Marcel’s attachment to Father Jean Bosco, Christelle P. announced that she was in mediumistic contact with the then deceased priest. It is the stroke of genius that allows the scammer to subject Marcel to her will. The latter does not even think to ask for any proof of this mediumistic contact. Very attached to the memory of Father Jean Bosco, Marcel therefore believes that Christelle P. has been designated to succeed the priest. The pseudo clairvoyant also tells her that the priest asked her to perform astrology and numerology sessions for Marcel. But unlike Father Bosco, Christelle P. charges for her services. Pay well even.
Little by little, Christelle P. succeeds in giving herself the image of a guardian angel and making Marcel totally dependent on her: it is a real mental manipulation worthy of the worst sects. To the point that Christelle P. does not have to use the traditional “visions” of accidents or illnesses to keep her hold on Marcel. She just tells Marcel not to tell anyone about what she is doing for him. This is how, without the slightest gift other than telling people what they want to hear, Christelle P. extracts more than 167,000 euros (1.1 million francs) from Marcel in four years.
In 1999, in Geneva, Marcel met a person who told him that he trusted a third party too much and that the latter took advantage of his gullibility. Maurice immediately thinks of Christelle P.. He thinks back on these four years and realizes that he is the subject of mental manipulation aimed at extracting a real fortune from him. In November 1999, Marcel telephoned Christelle P. who asked him for 22,000 euros for secret work. Suspicious, Marcel asks for details and above all what the money is used for. As always in this type of scam, Christelle P. tells her victim that this money is not for her and that providence will return it to her. She also tells him of an upcoming lottery win. You have understood, the agent is not for Christelle P. but for her pleasure and providence it is just Marcel who will have towork up to 120 brooms to earn the money that the scammer took from him. Faced with Maurice’s reluctance to pay these 22,000 euros, Christelle P. returns to the traditional arguments of clairvoyance scammers and indicates to her victim that in the event of non-payment, the work carried out over four years will be canceled.
But now, with three recordings of telephone conversations with Christelle P., Marcel goes to the gendarmerie to make a statement. He contacts a lawyer who, being aware of this type of scam, misdirects Marcel in his efforts. The result was catastrophic: in February, the court dismissed the case for lack of break-in! Informed of the dismissal in July, Marcel contacted the ADFI of his sector which could hardly help him, this matter not concerning a sect. In September, he contacted an association which took the opportunity to extract 4,500 euros from Marcel only to inform him that Christelle P. no longer lived at the address indicated. This is how Marcel falls from Charybdis to Sulla, literally being pushed down by all those who should help him. The same goes for a psychiatrist who makes him feel guilty instead of helping him overcome the ordeal.
Finally, Marcel entrusts the matter to a Parisian lawyer. A complaint was immediately filed against Christelle P. for fraud and abuse of weakness. An investigation carried out by the Financial Investigation Section of the Le Havre Police proves that Christelle P. did defraud Marcel for a total amount of 167,000 euros. The investigation also shows that Christelle P. is lying deliberately. As cunning as a high-flying crook, Christelle P. rushes to ask for psychiatric treatment as soon as she receives the summons from the Police. The investigation then notes numerous implausibilities between the words of Christelle P., the testimonies of third parties and the results of the financial investigation carried out by Commander Guenan. Thus Christelle P. declares that the money taken from Marcel was used to cover everyday expenses and to pay monthly payments for the purchase of an apartment. But Christelle P.’s father contradicts his daughter by asserting that he had to pay the monthly payments for the apartment for his daughter. And above all, the study of the statements of Christelle P.’s numerous bank accounts proves that the majority of the sums collected came out of the banks in cash.
Unfortunately, whether during the investigation or during the trial, no one tried to find out exactly what had become of the 167,000 euros. Everything proves that Christelle P. is a manipulator and a liar, that she acted thoughtfully and with full knowledge of the consequences of her lies both on her bank account and on Marcel’s life. However, Christelle P. plays the psychiatric card to the fullest and almost manages to make the court believe that she is a victim. Convicted despite everything for fraud, Christelle P. must pay Marcel 167,194 euros for the financial damage, 1,500 euros for moral damage and 750 euros in legal costs.
Everything is working out for Marcel, you think. Not at all, quite the contrary. Because the Sentencing Judge decides that Christelle P. must reimburse Maurice L. at the rate of 100 euros per month, subsequently reduced to 70 euros. Marcel will therefore have to wait more than 140 years to recover his property. It is still necessary that Christelle P., who has declared on several occasions that she wants to repair the damage “as soon as possible”, pays these unfortunate 70 euros on a regular basis. What is far awayto be the case.
When a person has debts to the administration, social security or a company, property seizure or wage seizure measures are quickly applied. In Marcel’s case, no measures were taken to ensure the victim was reimbursed for the damage suffered. Lack of means or lack of time, Justice was particularly lax towards Christelle P. who defrauded a particularly vulnerable person but also the State. In fact, Christelle P. herself declared that she only officially established herself on July 7, 1998 and that she had exercised her activity as a clairvoyant on a paid basis during the two previous years. An admission of undeclared work which did not result in any tax or legal consequences. While Marcel was literally cheated by everyone he spoke to, Christelle P. got away with it through crude manipulation. Although the investigators discovered that this pseudo clairvoyant had opened several accounts in different banks, no one sought to find out more about the fate of the 167,000 euros that she took from Marcel. To date, Christelle P. only pays around thirty euros to her victim. With her three-year probationary period over, she can do whatever she wants. In a few weeks, no doubt, she will no longer pay anything. With complete impunity… Because once the trial is over and the sentence is pronounced, Justice washes its hands and the victims of the crooks find themselves alone facing their executioner.
Still lost in his daily life and now relieved of all his savings, Marcel continues to seek help and relief in the world of divinatory arts. Which leads us to think about another important problem in terms of clairvoyance fraud: the responsibility of consultants in the scam of which they are victims. In certain cases, like here with Maurice, we can indeed wonder if clairvoyance scammers do not see their task made easier by their clients. How is it possible that we can agree to pay tens of thousands of euros on the sole promise of a better future? For more than 20 years, INAD has continued to inform consumers about psychic pseudonyms and the methods they use to defraud desperate people. Regularly TV shows and press articles highlight clairvoyance scams. Yet every week the Inad receives calls for help from new victims of these thugs who are corrupting the divinatory arts. Is it possible that in this age of all-out communication, none of these people have heard of the scams that take place every day? Must we have become so assisted that we run headlong into a wall thinking “there will surely be someone to repair the damage”. Marcel’s case is symptomatic of this type of reasoning. For almost five years, Mr. Maurice has been complaining that he cannot recover the 160,000 euros he was robbed of by Christelle P. For almost five years, he has been railing against the investigators, the judge, his lawyer, the journalists, all these people who do nothing to help him. But for almost five years, not a week has gone by without Mr. Maurice consulting psychic pseudonyms or taking part in bogus seminars or courses. What is quite incredible is that Marcel is not the only victim of a clairvoyance scam who has not learned a lesson from hismishap and to continue to consult anyone. Reading through the stories of victims of clairvoyance scams who have contacted Inad, we realize that there are many who resort to pseudo clairvoyants or marabouts to try to recover the money they have lost to other pseudo clairvoyants.
This story gives a lot of hope to all the scammers in France, whether they work in the field of clairvoyance or in any other field. Conversely, it bodes poorly for the future of thousands of people whose psychological or social vulnerability inevitably exposes them to the horrors of fraud and a Justice system devoid of means. Because in this year when the social and financial crisis will attract all the attention, there is no need to be a soothsayer to predict that the moralization of the practice of the divinatory arts will not be the priority of a State which benefits from substantial income from these professions not recognized by law but taxed by the tax authorities.
Bertrand CAILAC
INAD: The victim’s name was deliberately replaced by a pseudonym.
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