A man who posed as a Saudi royal to swindle more than $8m (£6.3m) from investors has been jailed for 18 years.
Anthony Gignac, 48, called himself “Prince Kahlid Bin Al-Saud” and lived a life of luxury in Miami. He wore expensive jewellery, travelled in private jets and cars with diplomatic licence plates and carried business cards referring to him as “Sultan”.
Gignac convinced victims to deposit large amounts of money in his bank account as part of fake business deals he said were backed by the Saudi royal family.
He claimed to have access to exclusive business ventures across the including a pharmaceutical company in Ireland, a casino in Malta, luxury hotels, and a jet-fuel trading platform in the Middle East.
“As the leader of a sophisticated, multi-person, international fraud scheme, Gignac used his fake persona – Prince Khalid Bin Al-Saud – to sell false hope,” US lawyer Fajardo Orshan said in a statement.
“He sold his victims on hope for their families, careers, and future.”
Gignac was born in Colombia but was adopted by a family in the US state of Michigan at the age of seven and is an American citizen.
According to court documents, he had been arrested 11 times in the past three decades for "prince-related schemes" and demanded that royal protocol be observed.
In addition to using the name “Prince Khalid Bin Al-Saud”, he purchased fake diplomatic papers for his bodyguards.
Gignac also ran an Instagram account where he posted pictures of Saudi Royal family members with captions such as “my dad”, alongside images of dogs, designer handbags and luxury cars.
However, his fake life as a Saudi royal came to an end when he tried to invest in a luxury hotel in Miami.
The hotel owners became suspicious of Gignac after he was spotted eating pork and hired a private security group to investigate him. This led to a federal investigation.
Gignac pleaded guilty to impersonating a foreign diplomat and wire fraud in March.
Additional reporting by AP
