An Irish citizen, who made millions pretending to be a British spy, was sentenced to 41 months in prison for defrauding a Dutch commodities trading company of more than $12 million.
Kevin Richard Halligen, 51, a dual citizen of Ireland and the UK was sentenced on Thursday in Federal Court in Washington after he pleaded guilty in May to wire fraud.
Since the accused had already spent 41 months in prison in the UK and US, he requested that he be deported immediately, the Washington Post reports.
The court heard that the Halligen enjoyed a lavish lifestyle in Washington from 2005-2008, where he posed as security consultant by falsely claiming he was an intelligence expert.
The fraudster even faked his own wedding in Washington. Devastated fiancee Maria Dybczak,a U.S. attorney was tricked into taking part in a lavish ceremony by Halligan, who was already married.
He fled to the UK but was apprehended on November 25, 2009 in a hotel in Oxford. He was arrested and charged with fraud before being extradited to the U.S. in December 2012.
The Irish man’s case stemmed when he was hired by Trafigura Beheer BV, a company based in the Netherlands.
The company paid Halligen’s consultancy firm $12 million to help them free two of their executives imprisoned in the Ivory Coast. The court heard he used the money to fuel his extravagant lifestyle, instead of influencing American officials, as he has promised.
According to his plea agreement Halligen also must pay $2.1 million in restitution to the company that was the victim of his scheme.
Among his other projects, he was offered $500,000 to help the family of Madeleine McCann, the English girl who went missing in Portugal a few years back. Despite signing a $500,000 contract, he never made any efforts to find the toddler.
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