Yahoo News Irish “Heiress” Who Conned Reality TV Producer Extradited to Northern Ireland
Marianne Smyth, the American whose elaborate con of a reality television producer was the subject of a 2020 Hollywood Reporter story, has been extradited to Northern Ireland to face trial over a separate alleged scam she ran there.
Smyth was extradited on Tuesday, according to statements from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The 54-year-old Smyth is set to stand before the Newtownards Magistrates Court on Tuesday, while her charges will be assessed by Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service, according to police. As THR previously reported, the U.K. is seeking to charge Smyth with fraud by abuse of position and theft stemming from a period between 2008 and 2010, around which time she worked as an independent mortgage adviser in Northern Ireland.
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In a statement, Sergeant Davey (whose first name was not provided, the Police Service stated, for security reasons) of the Police Service’s International Policing Unit said the arrest came about as the result of working closely with the U.S. Department of Justice and law enforcement “to locate, arrest and extradite this suspect.” Davey added, “Our message is clear to anyone who has left Northern Ireland to avoid arrest or the consequences of their actions. We will relentlessly pursue those that are trying to delay or deny justice to victims of crime.”
Smyth was arrested in Bingham, Maine, in February in connection with Northern Ireland’s allegations. According to a complaint from an assistant U.S. attorney charged with fulfilling the U.S.’ extradition treaty with the U.K., the U.K. is alleging that Smyth defrauded clients of around £135,570 (or about $173,000) in four instances.
These alleged activities in Northern Ireland predate a stint in Los Angeles that was the subject of THR‘s 2020 story. Between 2013 and 2017, Smyth conned American Ninja Warrior and Shark Tank producer Johnathan Walton while posing as an “Irish heiress” and allegedly several other figures in and around Hollywood. In 2019, Smyth was convicted by a Los Angeles court of grand theft in Walton’s case and spent time in jail as a result. Around the same period, she took a plea deal in a different case, with former employer PacificIslands.com, where she was accused of stealing around $200,000.
Walton has been in communication with Northern Ireland police since they first contacted him in 2017, after they found a blog he had written about Smyth, he says. In a statement on Tuesday, Walton added, “The day I’ve been working hard on for the past seven years has finally arrived. My con artist is finally in the U.K. facing a judge answering to all the scams she pulled over there. … My only desire now is for justice for all her victims in Northern Ireland. I hope and pray they put her away for a very long time.”
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