An American woman who swindled several people in Northern Ireland out of large sums of my money by posing as an heiress to an Irish fortune could be extradited to Northern Ireland to face a number of fraud and theft charges.
Marianne Smyth, 54, was convicted of two felonies after defrauding victims of over $60,000. A jury sentenced her to five years in prison in 2019, but she was released in early 2020, according to reports.
However, Smyth was arrested in Maine in February 2024 on eight separate charges from Northern Ireland.
A federal court ruled on Thursday that there was "sufficient evidence to sustain the charges", with Smyth now set to be turned over to the custody of the US Marshals Service pending a final decision on her extradition by the US Secretary of State.
Smyth became known as the "Irish Heiress" after one of her former victims Jonathan Walton started a podcast about his experience in 2021.
Walton revealed that he first met Smyth in 2013 and said the two became close friends.
Smyth, who claimed to be from a prominent Irish family, told Walton that she was facing money problems and claimed that she was locked in a legal battle with relatives over an inheritance worth tens of millions of euros.
Walton said he lent Smyth money and the use of her credit card, stating that she ran up a total of more than $63,000.
Walton told listeners that he realized that Smyth had defrauded him and reported her to the police, leading to her arrest in 2019.
The eight current charges relate to a period between March 2008 and October 2010 when Smyth was working in Northern Ireland as a mortgage adviser.
The charges allege that Smyth stole £135,000 ($170,000) from five people while working as a mortgage adviser, the New York Times reports.
According to a complaint filed by the US Attorney's Office for Maine, Smyth abused a position in which she was expected to "safeguard" the financial interests of her clients.
The complaint alleges that one couple gave Smyth £72,000 to purchase an investment property. Smyth produced paperwork to confirm the sale and sent the couple "rental payments" each month for several months. However, the payments allegedly stopped and the couple eventually discovered that the sale had never happened.
Another alleged victim claimed that she gave Smyth £20,000 to invest in a "high-interest-bearing account" with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, only to later discover that the account did not exist.
According to a response filed in the court on Smyth's behalf, the 54-year-old says she is not guilty of the charges and there is no "probable cause" to believe that she committed the crimes.
The allegations were first reported to authorities in Northern Ireland in 2009, but British officials did not officially request her extradition until last year.
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