A millionaire who paid for his divorce with a £2.5million fraud scam after his wife left him for former Arsenal and Chelsea footballer Cesc Fabregas has failed in a bid to be released from prison.
Elie Taktouk, 47, endured a traumatic and high-profile divorce from Lebanese model Daniella Semaan, also 47, after she left dumped for the former Spain international in 2011.
Following their split, he embarked on a sustained campaign of fraud, conning property investors out of cash which he subsequently spent on legal costs, rent, school fees and to buy a Porsche between February 12, 2015 and August 1, 2017.
Taktouk maintained he was innocent, but was convicted of eight counts of fraud and two of using a false instrument at Southwark Crown Court in September last year.
He was jailed for seven years, though did not turn up to his sentencing hearing after suffering a breakdown that culminated in what the court heard was a ‘real and very serious attempt to take his own life’.
Taktouk took his case to the Court of Appeal after his legal team claimed his convictions were ‘unsafe’ and that the seven-year sentence was too long.
However, three judges, Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, have rejected his argument, citing that they have ‘no merit’. It means Taktouk must complete his prison sentence.
Elie Taktouk (pictured outside court following a divorce hearing in 2015) embarked on a on a sustained campaign of fraud following the high-profile split
Daniella Semaan pictured…
