A clairvoyant allegedly linked to a large-scale crime network may have helped orchestrate a €60 million (NZ$110 million) fraud against Caritas Luxembourg. Caritas is one of the Catholic Church’s key charities.
The extensive scam involved around 120 large transactions executed over five months. Through a series of money transfers, 14 bank accounts in Spain were cleared. Ultimately, the scam led to major financial losses for the Catholic charity.
Luxembourg prosecutors revealed that criminals posing as Caritas executives directed fraudulent transfers. They exploited the vulnerability of the charity’s financial director.
The fraudulent operation unfolded when impostors, pretending to be Caritas executive Marc Crochet, instructed Caritas Luxembourg’s financial director to initiate transactions.
Authorities believe the director’s connection to a clairvoyant was instrumental in the operation’s success. The fortune teller is reportedly working with a criminal syndicate,
Investigations indicate that the clairvoyant, located in Belgium but operating from Spain, manipulated the financial director by exploiting personal and professional vulnerabilities.
Luxembourg media reports that the director shared confidential organisational details with the clairvoyant, including internal weaknesses and personal stressors. This sensitive information was allegedly relayed to the crime group, aiding the systematic withdrawal of Caritas funds.
Millions transferred abroad
Luxembourg’s public prosecutor’s office announced that more than €43 million from the charity’s funds was diverted to accounts in China, Hong Kong and Lithuania.
Investigators have mapped over 8,200 individual transactions distributed across multiple countries. The volume of transactions reinforces the belief that a sophisticated criminal association orchestrated the scheme.
Caritas Luxembourg first reported the fraud on 16 July. This led to an extensive judicial investigation covering potential crimes of fraud, forgery, breach of trust and money laundering. Since then, a parliamentary committee has also begun examining the case.
The financial director implicated in the scheme voluntarily approached law enforcement over the summer and remains under investigation, cooperating with authorities to uncover further details of the criminal operation. The financial director argued that she neither initiated nor benefited from the fraud.
Luxembourg prosecutors have yet to confirm if any of the stolen funds can be recovered but stress the investigation’s global scope and complexity.
Sources