Jailed, Scot behind £120,000 swindle over film access to Hillary Clinton
A SCOT who tried to con £120,000 out of film-makers claiming she was friends with Hillary Clinton and could get them access to her presidential campaign has been jailed.
Ann Leuser used a stooge to impersonate a member of Mrs Clinton’s campaign team to swindle British film-maker Alison Birley out of the cash.
She negotiated and signed a contract with the producer, saying she could offer behind-the-scenes access to the Democrat’s election drive in exchange for the payment.
Their deal, which included four instalextensive ments of £30,000, dishonestly stated that Leuser personally knew Mrs Clinton and other members of her campaign staff.
Leuser also managed to obtain an all-expenses-paid trip to New York worth £3,434 as part of the scam, which was carried out between April 1, 2016, and January 31 this year.
Over a period of ten months, she sent fraudulent emails claiming to be from members of the Clinton campaign team.
The 56-year-old, of Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, even paid an actress £5,000 to impersonate Mrs Clinton’s director of communications Jennifer Palmieri over the phone.
Leuser was yesterday sentenced to 44 months in jail when she appeared at Inner London Crown Court. She had admitted two counts of fraud by false representation at an earlier hearing at Southwark Crown Court, but claimed she received no money from the ruse and that the first £30,000 would only have been paid once filming started.
In September, Leuser was bailed to appear at Inner London Crown Court but a warrant was issued for her arrest after she failed to attend a hearing.
Following yesterday’s hearing, Detective Sergeant Barry Murray said: ‘Hillary Clinton’s campaign for US president was at the centre of
‘Deceiving industry professionals’
media scrutiny. Leuser used her personality to capitalise on this opportunity, deceiving industry professionals and gaining a trip to New York along the way.
‘She continually perpetuated the myth of her friendship with Clinton without thinking of the consequences when the truth was exposed.
‘Today’s result reflects not only the extent of deception orchestrated by Leuser, but also the distress that this caused to the television producer over a number of months.’
The court was previously told that the contract with the film-maker promising ‘access all areas’ within the Clinton campaign was signed in 2015.
Leuser later claimed she had travelled to a Democratic Party Convention in Las Vegas, when she had actually remained in New York for the entire trip, and forged an access letter in an attempt to fulfil the contract.
A representative of the production company then visited the Brooklyn headquarters of the Clinton campaign for a meeting in late 2015.
It was found there was no legitimate access letter, there had never been any negotiations with the Clinton campaign team and Leuser was not known to anyone there.
Accompanied by a Police Scotland officer, Leuser’s property was searched in April 2016.
A phone and receipts were seized detailing her contact with the documentary producer and team.
No evidence was found of a friendship between Leuser and Mrs Clinton.
Leuser has since admitted she has never had any type of relationship with Mrs Clinton – who was beaten in the race to the White House by Donald Trump last November – aside from one brief encounter at an event.
Miss Birley is a TV and film producer with production companies Bongo Films, Hawkstone Films, Make Waves Slaves and TBACT.