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A search, capture and arrest warrant has been issued for British estate agent Theresa Carol Arcari by the Arrecife court in Lanzarote after she has failed to respond to several subpoenas. The Briton, who operates in both Lanzarote and Tenerife, is facing six years behind bars for real estate fraud.

 

The accused has repeatedly failed to turn up to court, on one occasion claiming she had Covid; investigators have since established that she is no longer at her registered address and at an earlier hearing, a judge refused to seize her passport or freeze her assets.

 

Ms Arcari is accused of fraudulently keeping a large sum of money from the sale of a property in Orzola in May 2009, when the defendant agreed to advertise an apartment for a local resident.

 

A British buyer agreed to buy the property, and since the seller had granted Ms Arcari power of attorney, more than 67,000 euros was transferred into her account over three separate transactions. She was, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, given permission to carry out all of the purchase procedures “without the defendant at any time having any intention of perfecting the sale of said property or returning the amounts of money transferred by her, incorporating the same to its assets, causing it the consequent economic damage.”

 

After this scam, Ms Arcari reportedly continued to operate as an estate agent on different websites, using various aliases.

 

The Prosecutor’s Office has requested a jail term of six years, a fine of 5,500 euros and the return of the 67,000 euros in misappropriated funds.

 

Also of interest: Brexit shrinks demand for second homes in Spain

 

Image: Wikimedia Commons