A 60-year-old Romanian lady, Lulu Lakatos, who thieved diamonds worth over Rs100 crores, asked to pay back close to Rs59,000.
Lulu Lakatos, who is currently serving her five and a half year jail sentence for stealing diamonds worth whooping £4.2 million, equals over Rs100 crores, has been asked to pay back £245 (almost Rs59,000).
Reportedly, Lulu posed herself as Anna, a diamond expert, when she carried out the theft by swapping gems worth millions with pebbles, at Boodles, a jewelry store in London, United Kingdom.
The con woman managed to swipe a total of seven stones during her dealing at the store on behalf of a Russian client, one of which worthed £2.2 million alone.
As per the reports, the old lady began the heist back in 2016 by telling the staff at the jewelers that she was there to value expensive diamonds on behalf of a wealthy Russian client. The diamonds Lulu inspected were meant to be placed in a padlocked purse and held in the New Bond Street store’s vault.
Soon after carrying out the theft, Lulu along with her team members fled to France.
The jewelry store realized the theft when they opened the safe the following day and found the stones replaced by seven small garden pebbles, the move was caught on the CCTV, as she dropped the purse into her handbag and switched it for a duplicate.
The lady was arrested in 2021 and was sentenced to prison, after being found guilty of conspiracy to steal, however, the original gems were never recovered.
During the hearing of the court, Lakatos was ordered to pay £245, equivalent to her available assets.
“As far as the figures are concerned there is a striking contrast between the benefit figure of £4,299,671 and the available assets of 293 euros and 57 cents”, stated the judge while adding a one-day default sentence, and a month to pay the amount.
The convict is expected to soon be extradited to France.
