A travel agent has been accused of scamming Manchester United striker, Cristiano Ronaldo out of nearly 250,000 Euros after he trusted her with his credit card pin.
53-year-old Maria Silva’s criminal activities resulted in her getting a four-year suspended prison sentence at a court in Porto.
The scandal was laid bare by a local newspaper in an expose about Silva’s breach of the trust Cristiano placed in her by giving her his credit card details and pin codes.
The newspaper noted that out of 288,000 Euros she scammed Cristiano, 245,770 Euros corresponded to around 200 trips he never made between Portugal and other European countries as well as Africa and the US.
She reportedly carried out the fraud by getting clients to transfer cash for travel into her personal account instead of the business account of the travel agency she worked for. She then billed those trips to the accounts of victims like Cristiano Ronaldo, who had given her a ‘virtual’ credit card and pin code, to “fill the hole” in her company’s accounts.
Maria Silva is understood to have been quizzed by police in October 2013, declining to answer questions put to her by cops but making a full confession in court where she was found guilty of fraud and forgery. However, it was not made clear how her crimes were uncovered.
It was disclosed through reports that Silva suffers from a compulsive spending disorder and mostly misused all the money she gained from defrauding.
According to reports, Cristiano was targeted between a three-year period from February 2007 and July 2010 when he was playing for Manchester United before transferring to Real Madrid following his 80 million Euros record transfer to Spain.
The reports also revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo was spared having to attend trial after she made a full confession. However, the five-times Ballon D’or winner later gave a statement to police after flying to Porto by private jet and meeting up with his lawyer, Carlos Osorio de Castro.
He is said to have entered the police station via a back door so his presence would go unnoticed.
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Silva scams more stars
Well, Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t the only star Maria has scammed. The 53-year-old also scammed the football star’s super-agent, Jorge Mendes out of more than 14,000 Euros, and former Man Utd winger, Nani out of more than 1,500 Euros.
Silvia further used the same tactic to rip off the likes of Jorge Mendes, his sports agency Gestifute, Nani, and former Portsmouth and Everton footballer Manuel Fernandes.
The fraud cost Fernandes 2,440 Euros and Gestifute 36,000 Euros. Silva’s firm, Geostar is said to have repaid the fraud victims the money wrongly taken from them and she agreed to pay back monthly compensation to her former employers to avoid going to prison.
She agreed to repay her firm £7,680 as part of the court deal she struck sparing her prison
Meanwhile, there has not been any official reaction from Gestifute, Jorge Mendes, Cristiano Ronaldo, or the other fraud victims who were discovered.
Read also: Cristiano Ronaldo makes a return to Old Trafford after 12 years
