Brazilian woman swindled mother out of more than $100 million in art, police say

On Wednesday, Brazilian woman Sabine Coll Boghici, 48, was arrested, on allegations that she was part of a bizarre scheme to defraud her 82-year-old mother, Genevieve Boghici — the wife of the late art collector Jean Boghici — out of money, artwork and jewellery totaling about 724 million reais ($142.42 million).

Her arrest has exposed a disturbing web of fraudulent activities that police say lasted for years, and involved alleged psychics swindling artwork by some of Brazil's most emblematic painters. Four other people were also arrested, and two others — Diana Rosa Aparecida Stanesco Vuletic, and Slavko Vuletic — are on the run.

The scam began in 2020, when Genevieve was approached by a supposed psychic with prophecies of her daughter's imminent death.

The victim was then taken to several more psychics, who the police say used personal information provided by her daughter to scam her distraught mother into transferring money to pay for "spiritual treatment".

In the months that followed, police allege the suspects physically threatened Genevieve, and that she was kept at home for months by her daughter.

Sabine and an accomplice posing as a psychic "began to take the artwork from the [mother's] house, claiming that the painting was cursed with something negative; with negative energy that needed to be prayed over,'' said Rio de Janeiro police officer Gilberto Ribeiro.

After almost a year of being mistreated by Sabine and her accomplices, the victim decided to go to the police.

Police say 16 paintings were stolen, including works by renowned Brazilian artists like Cicero Dias, Rubens Gerchman and Alberto Guignard.

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