Neither one nor the other was paid for. However, a jury came to the conclusion that the defendant had no intention of enriching himself. The Senate found that the defendant was simply trying to see if he could get the diamonds without paying. The same applies to the ordered flight. Consequently, it cannot be established that the 40-year-old was interested in obtaining more than just a small amount of ongoing income by repeatedly committing serious fraud.
“He just wanted to stage himself”
According to the court, the decisive factor for the actions taken by the 40-year-old, who was represented by Amir Ahmed in a legally friendly manner, were narcissistic personality traits that were determined by an expert. “He wanted to move in a different world, namely that of the beautiful and rich, in order to hide his actual failure,” says the recent written court decision. The 40-year-old’s aim is to “portray himself as grandiose, special and ultimately a rich man.” It was clear to him that he would never have been able to pay for the diamonds or the flight, and he didn’t even want to take the flight: “He just wanted to make a scene.”
The man was most recently sentenced to a three-year unconditional prison sentence in January 2021 for serious commercial fraud. In December 2021, he wrote an email to a Viennese jeweler in his cell and was interested in diamonds. After not hearing anything for a while, the business owner received another email in October 2022, in which the defendant, referring to an alleged network of companies in London, stated that he had no longer been able to take care of the diamonds but wanted the deal now finalize.
When free to go to the jeweler
In fact, a few weeks later, the 40-year-old took advantage of a free day to go to the jewelry store and choose two diamonds that – as he claimed – were intended for his girlfriend. He pretended to be a Bitcoin millionaire in the business – he continued to do so in his main hearing, where he pretended to be a Bitcoin trader and claimed that his account had assets of four to 4.5 million euros.
The 40-year-old served his last prison sentence until April 2023, after which he was in custody because of the diamonds. The main hearing at the regional court began in November and was postponed several times. With the now legally binding acquittal, the prison gates opened for him again. His lawyer hopes that the 40-year-old will never see the inside again, as Ahmed assured the APA.
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