Hollywood ‘Con Queen’ arrested in Britain: FBI

LOS ANGELES: A suspected con artist who allegedly impersonated top female Hollywood executives to swindle wide-eyed aspiring stars out of hundreds of thousands of dollars has been arrested in Britain ater a US extradition request, the FBI said Thursday.

Dubbed the “Con Queen of Hollywood,” the suspect led investigators on a years-long, global manhunt so improbable it has even been optioned for a book deal.

He was identified in an unsealed court indictment Thursday as Hargobind Tahilramani, a 41-year-old Indonesian man.

“The defendant has been arrested in the United Kingdom based on a request for his provisional arrest submited by the United States with a view towards his extradition,” an FBI spokesman in San Diego, California told reporters.

Among the Hollywood moguls Tahilramani allegedly impersonated were Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy, former Sony movie chief Amy Pascal, and ex-paramount boss Sherry Lansing.

Wendi Murdoch, the former wife of Rupert Murdoch, was also allegedly aped by the master of accents, along with various male movie executives.

Victims were approached with offers of lucrative showbiz jobs and instructed to travel to Indonesia for tasks including location scouting, research and drating screenplays, according to court documents filed in California.

Tahilramani would “use fake accents and alter his voice to sound like a woman,” the documents state.

On arrival, the victims were allegedly bilked for US currency at every turn by Tahilramani and his co-conspirators, with the promised movie projects transpiring to be entirely fictional, and their expenses never reimbursed.

If targets complained or expressed doubt, Tahilramani would sometimes threaten to “dismember” the victim, the documents state.

The scam began as early as 2013, and continued despite global Covid travel bans to this August, when victims were instead asked to shell out for non-existent training videos.