The Debrecen Tribunal pronounced a verdict in a public hearing on January 13, 2022, in the case of a defendant who claimed to be a high-ranking secret agent and then misled and harmed several victims with his tale. The man spent the money on his own livelihood.
The court of the second instance reversed the judgment of the Debrecen District Court of 4 March 2021 in the criminal proceedings instituted for the offense of six counts of fraud, one offense of deception, the offense of harassment, and misuse of firearms or ammunition to the extent that with a view to committing a commercial offense. Elsewhere, the Criminal Chamber of the Tribunal did not consider it appropriate to commute the sentence.
The court finally sentenced the accused to 4 years in prison and 4 years in public order. The court of the first instance also ordered the confiscation of assets up to nearly HUF 1.8 million, which was also upheld by the court. The court confiscated the confiscated firearm and ammunition.
According to the court’s lawful finding, the man, by giving the appearance of a high-secret secret agent, extorted more money from the victims, citing various untrue reasons, so that from 2014 until the fall of 2017, he used his son’s acquaintance to get close to wealthier people. During the acquaintances, the man was always a high-ranking secret agent, pretending to be the head of the European Border and Coast Guard (FRONTEX), and regularly referred to his extensive network of contacts. The accused told his acquaintances that he would help and mobilize his contacts. The accused requested the larger sums of money and loans regularly provided by the victims, citing various untrue reasons, and in fact financed his livelihood from it. In the case of one of the victims, the relationship of trust was also strengthened by the accused taking the unsuspecting man with him to a “covert action he controlled” so that he could be convinced of the veracity of his allegation. Another victim said the accused had betrayed himself as a police officer, appeared in uniform with a gun, referred to a mission abroad, and had no doubts about his credibility.
Due to the relationship of trust, the victims paid the accused, some of whom gave the man a larger loan on several occasions. The accused caused damage to six victims, a total of more than 26 million forints, which was not recovered, nor did he intend to repay the money.
In 2017, the defendant also asked his son to borrow various sums of money, which after a while the son no longer fulfilled. Therefore, between August and November 2017, the accused regularly harassed his own son on a cell phone, calling him nearly a hundred and seventy times to give him money. The man filed a private motion for a felony against her father.
Police arrested the defendant on November 21, 2017, in an apartment he rented, where during the search, an unlicensed firearm and 16 pieces of ammunition were found and seized in an opening in the top of a built-in closet.
The decision of the Debrecen General Court is final and enforceable.
debrecenitorvenyszek.birosag.hu
Picture: illustration.
