Vulnerable French heiress is conned out of £9m fortune by ‘stepmother’ who was helped by a witchdoctor
A French heiress was robbed of her multi-million pound fortune by her ‘stepmother’ who was helped by a witch doctor, a French court has heard.
Cléophée Herrmann, 34, had inherited more than £9 million through her family’s former textile empire but was convinced to give tens of thousands of it to a witch doctor and a fortune teller to talk to her late mother.
The court heard how the expenses left her so destitute that she was forced to work in a kebab shop in Colmar, France, to earn money for her two-year-old son.
Her stepmother Josianne Seiler was found guilty of ‘preying’ on Ms Herrmann and sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay her €5.1 million, as well as €50,000 in damages.
While her two daughters, Mathilde Hickel, 33, and Julia Hickel, 40, received a one-year suspended prison sentence for handling stolen goods and abuse of weakness, and were ordered to pay Mrs Herrmann €320,000.
Cléophée Herrmann (right), 34, had inherited more than £9 million through her family’s former textile empire but was convinced to give tens of thousands of it to a witch doctor and a fortune teller to talk to her late mother
Colmar court heard that when the grandmother died, Ms Seiler took advantage of Ms Herrmann’s “emotional emptiness” to impose herself as a quasi-mother in the woman’s life
The Colmar court heard that when the grandmother died, Ms Seiler took advantage of Ms Herrmann’s “emotional void” to impose herself as a quasi-mother in the woman’s life.
She introduced her grieving stepdaughter to a fortune teller who could reach her dead mother “on the other side,” and to a North African medicine man.
During these sessions, the stepmother ordered Mrs. Herrmann to leave envelopes of cash in her mailbox before each séance, with the amounts quickly rising from €1,000 (£833) to €10,000 (£8,330) and finally €50,000 (£41,650) .
The medicine man and fortune teller told the police that they only received a few hundred euros of this money.
Mrs. Herrmann attributes her cleverness to the fact that she had no idea of the value of money, having always been raised with everything being paid for.
The prosecutor said she was in a state of total “vulnerability” after the death of her two female guardians.
Afterwards, Ms Herrmann said: ‘This is revenge and a relief. It took a long time. I wanted justice to be done. I will be able to move on for my son and in honor of my family who are watching me up there.”
Mrs. Herrmann is the granddaughter of Fritz Schlumpf, who made a fortune with worsted yarn together with his brother Hans before the Second World War.
Both men were obsessed with cars and used most of their money to create a huge collection consisting of 580 vehicles, including 123 Bugattis and 14 Rolls Royces.
However, the couple was later convicted of fraud and embezzlement and forced to flee to Switzerland, where they later died.