Marianne Smyth, 54, notorious for her elaborate swindles such as impersonating an Irish heiress, has been ordered to be turned over to US Marshals Service by a US federal court. The American con artist, who is already bearing two convictions for her felonies, stands accused of a series of thefts and fraudulent activities in Northern Ireland. With sufficient evidence against her, she is likely to be extradited to Northern Ireland to stand trial, pending a final decision by the US secretary of state.
Known as the ‘Irish Heiress’, Smyth first came to light when one of her victims, Johnathan Walton, recounted his ordeal in a podcast in 2021. Walton, a reality TV producer, developed a close friendship with Smyth after meeting her in 2013. According to Walton, Smyth had claimed to belong to a distinguished Irish family and was fighting for a multi-million dollar inheritance from her relatives in Ireland. Deceived by her story, Walton supportive gave her money, and the use of his credit card, amassing to more than $63,000 (€58,450).
Upon discovering Smyth’s deceit, Walton alerted the police and her trial in 2019 led to a guilty verdict where she was sentenced to a five-year imprisonment. Despite being released early in 2020, Walton, bolstered by potential leads from his podcast listeners, has been assisting Northern Irish authorities.
Smyth, who has a history of adopting false identities such as a psychic and a satanic priestess, was apprehended in Maine in February, following an extradition request from the United Kingdom under a treaty with the United States. While she denies the charges, maintaining there’s no probable cause for believing she committed the alleged crimes, her fate now rests with the US secretary of state’s final decision on her extradition.
The original allegations pertain to the period from March 2008 to October 2010, during which time Smyth resided and operated as a mortgage consultant in Northern Ireland, according to a claim made by Maine’s U.S. Attorney’s Office. Allegedly, Smyth exploited her role, designed to protect her customers’ economic welfare, and instead embezzled roughly £135,000 (€157,000) from a group of five individuals. Initially, these claims were brought to the attention of the Northern Irish authorities in 2009, but it was not until the following year that the UK’s diplomatic representatives sought her removal. A couple alleged that they had entrusted Smyth with approximately £72,000 to obtain an investment property. They assert that she produced documents seemingly verifying the sale and also administered alleged monthly “rent instalments” from supposed tenants. The couple soon uncovered, following the cessation of these payments, that the sale had never occurred, as per the claim. Other alleged victims claimed to have given Smyth £20,000 to invest in what she promoted as a “high-yield account” with Australia’s Commonwealth Bank. One of them approached the bank, only to find that the account was non-existent. Efforts to reach or locate Smyth proved unproductive, according to the allegations. Walton, feeling somewhat unreal about the news of her extradition, shared his feelings via a text, admitting that he had been battling for it for ages. Grateful to his podcast listeners for providing clues, video, and audio evidence which he handed over to UK prosecutors, he stated they had played a pivotal role in the seemingly tightening legal bind Smyth now finds herself in. This passage was originally published in ‘The New York Times’.