Ex-Premier League star Edgar Davids’ £188,000 modern art collection was stolen and pawned by a friend after he let her stay at his north London mansion, a court has heard.
Nabila Habiby, 38, ripped off the former Spurs midfielder after they had struck up a friendship and he handed her keys to his home in the exclusive enclave of Hadley Wood.
Davids trusted Habiby to take care of his possessions when he decided to relocate to a central London apartment in December 2014.
But Wood Green crown court heard Habiby took 37 of his prized works of contemporary art to pawn brokers, to secure loans worth £31,500.
Davids believed his art collection was safely in a SafeStore storage locker in Enfield, north London.
But in 2017, he discovered many of the works had been sold at auction and spread around the world after Habiby defaulted on the loans and the pawn brokers sold off the art which had been put up as collateral.
Habiby appeared in the dock this week to plead guilty to two counts of fraud, carried out in 2014 and 2016.
The court heard at the same time as carrying out the art fraud, Habiby had ripped off another supposed friend, using her money to pay rent on a Knightsbridge flat.
Judge Alexander Jacobs adjourned sentencing until November, but warned Habiby she could face a spell in prison.
Eleven of the paintings taken by Habiby have been recovered by Davids, but 25 paintings have gone after being sold by the brokers.
The court heard Davids – a tenacious midfielder for the Dutch national team and club sides including Inter Milan, Juventus, and Spurs during an illustrious playing career – had bought his art collection from the Opera Gallery in New York between 2006 and 2012.
Habiby had lived sporadically with Davids over a few months in 2014, she was also employed by him as well as being a friend, and had a set of keys to his home.
In July 2014, she abused her trusted position to take two “Burning Man” pieces by British contemporary artist Paul Insect, and use them to secure a £7,000 loan from a broker in Weybridge.
She failed to pay back the money, and one of the two artworks were later sold to recoup the broker’s losses.
When Davids decided to move to central London, he trusted Habiby to place his possessions, including his art collection, in storage as it did not fit in his new apartment.
She raided the storage unit in 2016, to use 33 further Paul Insect works and two pieces of art by US artist Ron English - dubbed the ‘Godfather of Street Art’ - as collateral for a £24,500 loan from another broker.
“He had trusted her and she had stolen from him. He had an emotional connection to the paintings. The Ron English paintings were unique”, prosecutor Mark Seymour told the court.
Habiby used forged paperwork, including a bogus invoice from the New York gallery, to falsely claim to the loan provider that she had shared ownership of the artworks.
“She obtained an invoice which had her name on it”, said Mr Seymour. However, Habiby had blundered by putting the wrong name for the gallery on the forged paperwork.
When contacted, the gallery confirmed the invoice was a fake and contained more mistakes that marked it out as not genuine.
That loan was also defaulted, and some of the art was sold off at auction.
“(She) had no intention of paying back the loans, and the inevitable consequence was a fire sale”, said Mr Seymour, setting out that 26 of the stolen paintings were sold for around £70,000 – substantially below the prices Davids had originally paid.
The crime was discovered when one piece in Davids’ collection was bought by a man in Hong Kong, who noticed the ex-footballer’s name on the back.
The artist, Paul Insect, had personalised each of his works with Davids’ name when they were bought by the star.
When the buyer messaged Davids on Instagram to find out the story behind the artwork, the retired footballer was stunned to learn that his possessions had been sold behind his back.
He then turned over the case to the Metropolitan Police.
Court papers reveal Davids has already suspected Habiby of stealing money and a luxury watch from him when she was staying at his home. Habiby denied the allegations, and no criminal charges were brought.
Judge Jacobs was also told how Habiby was convicted of defrauding another of her supposed friends, by using her bank card to pay almost £3,000 of rent on a Cadogan Square flat.
That fraud happened in February 2016, in between the two frauds against Davids, and she was convicted after a trial in 2018 – having denied the charge and claimed her friend agreed to cover the rent payment.
Habiby was questioned in 2018, and denied stealing artwork from Davids or involvement in frauds.
She told police she works as a “freelance consultant” and receives money from her parents, and stated that she has a £5,000-a-month income.
Habiby also described herself as previously being “good friends” with Davids, but said they were no longer on speaking terms.
She was initially released on bail by police, and then left the UK for Belgium when she was “released under investigation”.
UK authorities had to seek her extradition to secure Habiby’s return from Belgium, which was eventually ordered in December 2022 after she spent five months in custody.
A trial was set for September last year, but it had to be abandoned when a videolink for Davids to give evidence from Dubai – where he now lives - could not be set up.
He was ready to give evidence this week at the rescheduled trial, but Habiby pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud as jurors were about to be selected.
Prosecutors agreed to let three further counts, alleging theft of the artworks, to lie on file.
Habiby was late to court on Monday, after being detained on her arrival back in the UK for failing to pay a financial penalty from her 2018 fraud conviction. She was only released after she settled the debt.
Judge Jacobs freed Nabily on bail until the sentencing hearing. She faces up to 34 months in prison, he said, and told her: “There was an abuse of position, power, trust, and responsibility.”
He added: “You understand the fact I am giving you bail and adjourning for reports is not a promise not to sentence you to immediate custody. I will do my absolute best to avoid it if I can, but sometimes it is unavoidable.”
