Scammer claimed to be a psychic, witch and Irish heiress, victims say as she faces extradition to UK

BOSTON (AP) — She has crisscrossed the country saying she's an Irish heiress, a psychic and good friends with a movie star in order to run scores of scams, her victims say.

But now Marianne Smyth is in a Maine jail awaiting a hearing next month that will decide whether she can be extradited to the United Kingdom over a scam dating back more than 15 years in Northern Ireland. The 54-year-old American is accused of stealing more than $170,000 from at least five victims from 2008 to 2010 in Northern Ireland, where a court issued arrest warrants for her in 2021, according to legal documents. She was located and arrested last month in Maine.

Her case has similarities to Anna Sorokin, a grifter convicted in New York of paying for a lavish lifestyle by impersonating a wealthy German heiress.

Emmy Award-winning producer Johnathan Walton poses for a photo with his Emmy Awards at his apartment in downtown Los Angeles, Monday, March 25, 2024. Walton was scammed by con artist Marianne "Mair" Smyth, who is now facing extradition to the United Kingdom. Walton started a podcast in 2021, “Queen of the Con,” to warn others about Smyth after he said he was fleeced out of nearly 0,000. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

“She’s a master of disguise completely changing her appearance and her grift to suit each mark,” said Johnathan Walton, who started a podcast in 2021, “Queen of the Con,” to warn others about her after he said he was fleeced out of nearly $100,000. She was always dressed in designer clothes, but said she needed the money for things like a frozen bank account and to post bail, he said. She told him she was due an inheritance of $7 million from her wealthy family in Ireland, Walton said.

They grew close over several years in Los Angeles, when she bought him expensive dinners and luxury vacations, he said. But her story began to unravel when Walton realized she was jailed for stealing $200,000 from a luxury travel agency where she worked. She was later convicted of stealing from him and briefly served time in prison.

“She has no shame. And she has no conscience,” the 49-year-old reality television producer, author and public speaker said. “She revels in casting countless victims as unwitting actors in her elaborate schemes to defraud.”

Smyth's attorney did not respond to a request for comment. From jail, Smyth referred questions to her attorney.

The podcast has drawn tips from dozens of victims from California to New York, Walton said. The tipsters described a fake charity for Ukraine as well as lies that she was an emissary for Satan, a witch, a hockey coach, a cancer patient and best friends with Jennifer Aniston. She often changed her name and appearance, her victims say.

Emmy Award-winning producer Johnathan Walton works at his laptop inside his apartment in downtown Los Angeles, Monday, March 25, 2024. Walton was scammed by con artist Marianne "Mair" Smyth, who is now facing extradition to the United Kingdom. Walton started a podcast in 2021, “Queen of the Con,” to warn others about Smyth after he said he was fleeced out of nearly 0,000. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

“She honed in our vulnerabilities and got all our information and bank accounts,” said Heather Sladinski, a costume designer in Los Angeles who said she was scammed out of $20,000 for psychic readings, fake life coach sessions and cult-like retreats that included rituals, breathing exercises and yoga. Smyth was funny, smart and had credentials and other documents to back up her claims, Sladinski said.

The 50-year-old from Los Angeles blocked Smyth after she wanted to do a bizarre ritual involving a chicken to win back her ex-boyfriend, who had a restraining order against her, Sladinski said. Smyth then started making threatening phone calls and Sladinski "was so scared” that she moved homes. But after connecting with Walton, Sladkinski filed her own police report against Smyth and testified at Walton's trial.

Tess Cacciatore, who owns a production company and nonprofit charity, never lost money to Smyth, but met her in 2016 through a business partner who had employed her as a psychic. Smyth claimed to be a cancer patient, even sending her a photo of her in a hospital gown, and said she was set to get a $50 million inheritance. Smyth also showed Cacciatore emails purportedly from Aniston and, at one point, invited her to join them at the Golden Globe Awards before abruptly canceling.

In Northern Ireland, government officials say Smyth stole money that she had promised to invest and arranged to sell a victim a home but took the money. She remains in the Piscataquis County Jail in Dover-Foxcroft pending the extradition hearing on April 17.

Emmy Award-winning producer Johnathan Walton poses for a photo with his Emmy Awards at his apartment in downtown Los Angeles, Monday, March 25, 2024. Walton was scammed by con artist Marianne "Mair" Smyth, who is now facing extradition to the United Kingdom. Walton started a podcast in 2021, “Queen of the Con,” to warn others about Smyth after he said he was fleeced out of nearly 0,000. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

“She should have been an actress,” Cacciatore said. “She would have worked a lot and not gone to jail. She is so good at what she did.”

In a selfie taken in July 2014, Johnathan Walton poses with Marianne Smyth during a vacation in Palm Springs, Calif. Smyth is in a Maine jail awaiting a hearing in April 2024 that will decide whether she can be extradited to the United Kingdom over a scam dating back more than 15 years in Northern Ireland. She is accused of stealing more than $170,000 from at least five victims from 2008 to 2010 in Northern Ireland, according to court records. (Johnathan Walton via AP)

In this image provided by Johnathan Walton, Walton and Marianne "Mair" Smyth pose for a selfie in December 2013, at her tree trimming Christmas party in downtown Los Angeles. Smyth is in a Maine jail awaiting a hearing in April 2024 that will decide whether she can be extradited to the United Kingdom over a scam dating back more than 15 years in Northern Ireland. She is accused of stealing more than $170,000 from at least five victims from 2008 to 2010 in Northern Ireland, according to court records. (Johnathan Walton via AP)

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli army on Monday ordered tens of thousands of people in the southern Gaza city of Rafah to begin evacuating, signaling that a long-promised ground invasion could be imminent.

The announcement complicated last-ditch efforts by international mediators, including the director of the CIA, to broker a cease-fire. Hamas and Qatar, a key mediator, have warned that an invasion of Rafah could derail the talks.

Israel has described Rafah as the last significant Hamas stronghold after seven months of war, and its leaders have repeatedly said they need to carry out a ground invasion to defeat the Islamic militant group.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said some 100,000 people were being ordered to move to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi. He said Israel was preparing a “limited scope operation” and would not say whether this was the beginning of a broader invasion of the city. But last October, Israel did not formally announce the launch of a ground invasion that continues to this day.

The move comes a day after Hamas militants carried out a deadly rocket attack from the area that killed three Israeli soldiers.

Shoshani said Israel published a map of the evacuation area, and that orders were being issued through leaflets dropped from the sky, text messages and radio broadcasts.

He said Israel has expanded humanitarian aid into Muwasi, including field hospitals, tents, food and water.

Israel's army said Monday on the social platform X it would act with “extreme force” against militants and urged the population to evacuate immediately for their safety.

Israel's plan to invade Rafah has raised global alarm because of the potential for harm to more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there.

About 1.4 million Palestinians — more than half of Gaza’s population — are jammed into the town and its surroundings. Most of them fled their homes elsewhere in the territory to escape Israel’s onslaught and now face another wrenching move, or the danger of facing the brunt of a new assault. They live in densely packed tent camps, overflowing U.N. shelters or crowded apartments, and are dependent on international aid for food, with sanitation systems and medical facilities infrastructure crippled.

The U.N. agency that has helped millions of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank for decade, known as UNRWA warned on Monday of devastating consequences of a Rafah offensive, including more civilian suffering and deaths. The agency said it would not evacuate and stay in Rafah as long as possible to continue providing lifesaving assistance.

The United States, Israel's closest ally, has repeatedly urged Israel not to carry out the invasion, saying it does not have a credible plan to protect civilians.

But even as the U.S., Egypt and Qatar have pushed for a cease-fire agreement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated last week that the military would move on the town “with or without a deal” to achieve its goal of destroying the Hamas militant group.

On Sunday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed Hamas wasn’t serious about a deal and warned of “a powerful operation in the very near future in Rafah." His comments came after Hamas attacked Israel’s main crossing point Sunday for delivering assistance, killing three soldiers.

Shoshani would not say whether the upcoming Rafah operation is a response to Sunday's killing. He said the incident would have no effect on the amounts of badly needed aid entering Gaza because other crossing points remain operational.

He wouldn't comment, however, on U.S. warnings not to invade and wasn't clear on whether the evacuation was coordinated with Egypt.

Egypt, a strategic partner of Israel, has said that an Israeli military seizure of the Gaza-Egypt border — which is supposed to be demilitarized — or any move to push Palestinians into Egypt would threaten its four-decade-old peace agreement with Israel.

In Rafah, people received flyers Monday morning in Arabic detailing which neighborhood blocks needed to leave and where humanitarian zones had expanded to. The flyers said that aid services would spread from Deir al Balah in the north to the center of Khan Younis city in the middle of the Gaza Strip.

Palestinians in Rafah said people gathered to discuss their options after receiving the flyers. Most said they did not want to move alone and preferred to travel in groups.

“So many people here are displaced and now they have to move again, but no one will stay here it’s not safe,” Nidal Alzaanin told The Associated Press by phone.

Alzaanin, a father of five, works for an international aid group and was displaced to Rafah from Beit Hanoun in the north at the start of the war.

He said people are concerned since Israeli troops shot at Palestinians as they moved during previous evacuation orders.

Alzaanin said he has packed his documents and bags but will wait 24 hours to see what others do before relocating. He said he has a friend in Khan Younis whom he hopes can pitch a tent for his family.

The Qeshta family is seen in body bags at the morgue of Al Najjar hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 5, 2024. The family was killed in an Israeli bombardment on a residential building in Rafah. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

A Palestinian woman mourns her relative, 7-month old baby Hani Qeshta, who was killed in an Israeli bombardment on a residential building with Qeshta's family, at the morgue of Al Najjar hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)