The notorious socialite daughter of a multi-millionaire property tycoon – once dubbed: ‘London’s Most Dangerous Woman’ – was locked-up for fifteen months today (Friday) for a £17,500 housing benefit fraud.
Novelist and designer Farah Damji, 43, whose recently published autobiography details her life as an international media and art entrepreneur created a web of deceit involving forgery, false identity and bogus claims to landlords and the local council.
“The level of dishonesty at every conceivable juncture is so persistent it’s the type of case I have never come across before,” said Judge Aiden Marron QC at Blackfriars Crown Court.
“This was a scheme dripping with dishonesty at every conceivable corner,” he added. “She was not entitled to a penny on the information provided.”
Ugandan-born mother-of-two Damji, (pictured) of Cardinal Mansions, Carlisle Place, Westminster, claimed her infamous criminal exploits were behind her in book ‘Try Me’ launched last year less than 24 hours before yet another appearance in the dock.
Daughter of South-African-based property magnate Amir Damji, she edited lifestyle magazine Another Generation, wrote for the Observer and New Statesman, was a Birmingham Post columnist and previously ran art galleries in Manhattan and East Hampton, New York.
She earned her notorious description as ‘London’s Most Dangerous Woman’ in an Evening Standard feature.
“Your dishonesty was manifest. You forged documents, signatures, provided false documents, pretended to be someone else, claimed you were penniless, claimed your children lived with you, but claimed great wealth when applying for tenancies and you sought to sub-let one property for profit,” Judge Marron told Damji.
“You manipulated bank accounts so money came to you instead of your landlord and when your dishonesty was exposed you responded with more dishonesty and threats,” he added.
“The prosecution’s case is this defendant orchestrated a planned fraud on landlords and then had the audacity to claim public benefits,” said Judge Marron at an earlier hearing. “She is a relatively sophisticated dishonest woman.”
The court heard Damji told landlords she was the £96,000 a year creative director of fashion company Moksa and owned a £3m Chelsea home with a non-existent husband who was a £100,000 per week property developer.
In fact the ‘husband’ was MySpace pal, American Francesco Miccolupo, who Damji had a fling with then used his bank account behind his back, claim the prosecution.
She pleaded guilty to dishonestly making false representations to landlords Alex and Alix Lentjes in relation to 73c Loftus Road, Shepherd’s Bush and to landlord Benjamin Hutton, owner of 2b Kilmaine Road, Hammersmith on or before October 3, last year.
She also admitted three counts of dishonestly making false representations to Hammersmith and Fulham Council in relation to both addresses, forging a Halifax Bank statement she gave letting agents ‘Lets’s Do Business’ and falsely representing Alex Lentjes was the holder of a specific account benefits were deposited in.
Confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act are scheduled for June 14.
Prosecutor Miss Karen Robinson told the court £17,500 in housing and council tax benefit was paid to Damji, who left landlord Mr Lentjes £7,685 out of pocket and with a damaged flat following the defendant’s eviction on October 3, last year.
When Damji rented £350 per week 73c she claimed to be married Farah Miccolupo and was very edgy about providing reference details, explained Miss Robinson, even threatening a libel action against the letting agents she described as “liars”.
Eventually she was given the keys. “The landlord was left with the impression a couple were moving in and were in a position to pay for the flat.”
Rent was paid in a variety of ways and from a variety of sources, including Mr Miccolupo’s account, said Miss Robinson, adding an associate of Damji, Michael Hill, had his signature forged on one document he purported to witness.
Cheques bounced, one came from Moksa and another from an unknown source in relation to 73c which Damji even advertised for £400 per week on website Gumtree, behind her landlord’s back.
A similar fraud was hatched for the flat at 2b, but police arrested Damji on October 27, 2008 before the landlord suffered any loss.
In both cases Damji’s wealthy father funded the deposit payments.
Damji is currently involved in Family Court proceedings for custody of her son, 12, and daughter, 8, who have been brought up by their grandparents in South Africa and are heirs to a huge trust fund.
Her lawyer Mr. Giles Newell told the court: “She was trying to get something better than she was entitled to.
“She accepts what she did was wrong and takes full responsibility for her offending and does intend to pay this money back. This was not a sophisticated, well-planned fraud.
“The aim was to provide for her family,” added the lawyer. “It was a heartfelt attempt to find a suitable home for her two young children.”
Damji once absconded from Surrey’s Downsview Prison – where she was serving a 3 ½ year sentence for a £50,000 credit card fraud – and became Britain’s first on-the-run blogger.
After failing to return to prison when released to attend an Open University tutorial for a sociology degree she kept the world up to date with her exploits on her MySpace page until arrested five days later.
In a breathtaking display of self-promotion Damji even nominated herself for a New Statesman Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 Award - describing herself as an individual who has changed through her own diverse talents and created an enduring beauty “spreading light” as she goes.
The controversial socialite first came to public attention over her dalliance with travel writer William Dalrymple plus a fling with a Guardian executive and in a revealing Daily Mail interview detailed the ups and downs of the affair.
In October 2002 she stole her nanny Milla Salminen’s credit card and ran up a £3,903 bill with 61 purchases, including a stay at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Birmingham.
In October 2004, while on bail, she did the same with marketing assistant Darshika Mahavir who visited her house for a sales pitch, and her credit card was stolen by Damji to buy clothing worth £1,030 from Harvey Nichols.
The following month she stole a credit card from Rakhee Gokani, who was organising a magazine photo shoot for Another Generation’s front cover and her card was used 34 times for purchases amounting to £2,630.
She audaciously telephoned top-peoples jewellers Boodle and Dunthorne, posing as Daily Mail showbiz correspondent Kiki King’s assistant, and conned them out of two diamond and platinum rings worth £10,550.
Freelance journalist Ambarina Hasan’s credit card was stolen by Damji and used to open a savings account in the reporter’s name and obtain a £18,000 Sainsbury’s loan.
She also stole two credit cards and a driving licence from a friend, Nazia Soonsara, in a bid to steal her identity.
She pleaded guilty to twenty-five theft and deception charges plus two counts of perverting the course of justice when she told a witness not to appear in court, asked a prosecution barrister to drop the case and posed as then Home Secretary David Blunkett’s assistant in a bid to convince the Crown Prosecution Service pursuing the case was not in the public interest.
Her New York art career ended in disgrace with a six-month stint in tough Rikers Island prison for padding a certified cheque with extra zeroes and forging a court document ordering the seizure of her property.
She was accused in New York of an extensive and pathological crime spree, employing several aliases to rip-off artists, associates and was said to terrorize ex-boyfriends and continued her criminal behaviour in posh East Hampton following her release.
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