Lawyer 'conned Turkish millionaire out of £2million and splurged it in casinos'

A lawyer from North London allegedly scammed a Turkish millionaire out of more than £2million and splurged at least £500k in casinos, a court has heard. Tim Damiani, from Muswell Hill, denied three counts of fraud by false representation at Southwark Crown court after the court heard how he had allegedly defrauded Aysun Kibar of more than £2million.

Mr Damiani, 69, is accused of conning Ms Kibar to invest £1.5million into a plush eight-bedroom mansion in Mayfair back in 2016 as well as promising to secure British and Italian identity documents for her and her family for the cost of half a million pounds. Though the court heard that Damiani did not purchase the Mayfair property and that Ms Kibar and her family never received the documents.

The court heard that Damiani's wife, who is not accused of any wrong-doing, had told her childhood friend Ms Kibar that her husband regularly helped wealthy individuals secure foreign identity documents and buy property in the UK. Ms Kibar's family own the largest aluminium production facility in Turkey and are a well-known affluent family.

Prosecutor Sophie Stannard told jurors: “Aysun Kibar comes from Turkey and she was born into a very well-known affluent family who own the largest aluminium production facility in Turkey, Kibar Holdings. She is someone who is able to travel the world frequently, for example the south of France, London and Italy. She has shares in the business and owns property in London. She has an income of around $300,000 US dollars a year.

“She has been brought up in Turkey and resonates with their culture. She has no real experience of how things are done in other countries and their cultures. She lived a lifestyle most of us couldn’t even imagine.” 

Ms Stannard said of Ms Kibar’s culture: “If you ask someone to do something for you - it’s done. You don’t get involved with the nitty gritty. In Turkey it’s rare for a woman to have direct contact with a married male.” The court also heard how Mr Damiani had used several names including Dr Al Tamimi and Ms Kibar knew him as Ali Tamimi.  

28 Charles Street is the eight-bedroom mansion in Mayfair Kibar gave Damiani a £1.5million investment for© Adela Whittingham

Jurors heard Ms Kibar would visit Damiani and his wife in various places where they lived, including Milan and Switzerland, and she regarded the couple as close friends. As Stannard said Ms Kibar transferred £300,000 into Damiani’s bank account to apply for British driving licenses and passports for her and her two children between April and June 2016. She also sent Damiani £5,000 during this time to set up a bank account at Barclays.

Ms Kibar then sent him £200,315 in December that year to apply for Italian identity documents, the court heard, as she was concerned about the instability in Turkey. Ms Stannard said a police investigation found Daminiai “squandered just shy of £500,000 at casinos” between October 2016 and January 2017 and gave £76,540 to his children.

The prosecutor said: “Not a single penny was returned to Ms Kibar.” By February 2017, Ms Kibar realised she had been “misled”, Ms Stannard said, as she never received the passports or any confirmation from the authorities they were being processed.

She asked for her investment in the Mayfair property to be returned, it was said. Ms Stannard said that, according to Damiani, he only helped Ms Kibar complete the application forms for British identity documents and that he had nothing to do with the arrangements for Italian passports, having only acted as a go-between for Ms Kibar and a friend named "Giuseppe".

Of the house sale, Ms Stannard said Damiani will deny the money was for a house purchase and that Ms Kibar voluntarily transferred the money so it wouldn’t be declared as part of a tax amnesty.