A U.S. federal court in San Antonio has sentenced a Lebanese man who impersonated an Emirati prince to 20 years in prison for wire fraud.
Alex Tannous, 39, defrauded individuals worldwide of large quantities of money by posing as a prosperous businessman with ties to Emirati aristocracy.
According to court documents, Tannous promised victims rich investment prospects and demanded upfront payments in order to get them access to millions of dollars that were purportedly available for projects.
Rather, he utilized these monies to support his lavish way of living.
People from a variety of nations were among the victims; one Belgian victim claimed to have lost €700,000, or roughly AED 2.77 million, after being tricked into making a fictitious investment in a project in Qatar.
AED 1.15 million was reported lost by another Libyan victim.
