A 39-year-old man is on trial this week by the Pontoise court (Val-d’Oise) for “organized gang fraud and money laundering”. During the Covid-19 crisis, this fake psychiatrist allegedly embezzled 435,000 euros by declaring fictitious employees technically unemployed, reports The Parisian. He would have developed a well-established process by creating bank accounts under a multitude of false identities.
But an investigation was finally opened after a report from Tracfin, in July 2020. During searches carried out at the home of an accomplice, the police found numerous falsified documents, false identity papers and other RIB. With the money recovered, the defendant allegedly purchased luxury cars and paid for hotel stays.
Already convicted in the past
The forty-year-old has already been caught several times for fraud. Last week, he was even sentenced to four years in prison for “illegal practice of medicine”. For several years, the man, never registered with the medical profession, followed hundreds of psychiatric patients. Currently on the run and being tried in his absence, he is the subject of an arrest warrant.