On 26 March 2023, the police of the Dominican Republic arrested Andrea D., alias Eszter Katona. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud and money laundering. What is more, the woman was also placed on the EU Most Wanted list.
Dominican papers (here and here) like to refer to Andrea D. as “Europe’s most wanted fugitive”. She was caught in the seaside resort of Bávaro, Punta Cana, La Altagracia. She started a new life under a false name there, started a family and a business, Telex reports. In addition to several local and international organisations, the National Investigation Unit of the Emergency Police Force was involved in her capture.
She was planning similar crimes in the Dominican Republic
She has since been arrested and has already been transferred to Spain. There, she is awaiting extradition to Hungary, where she can finally serve the 15 years she was previously sentenced to. According to Dominican authorities, the fraudster was not just living peacefully on the beach: she was planning to commit similar crimes in the Dominican Republic.
Dominican police have gathered evidence of Andrea D.’s elaborate scheme involving loan sharks, banks, construction companies, business associates and close friends. The complex network was disguised as an investment and real estate business, Telex writes. The deal involved millions of dollars in loans from Dominican banks and the building of homes and holiday homes in luxury beachfront developments in the area.
But what did she do?
In 2005, the woman from Miskolc ran an accountancy office. However, instead of accounting, she and her accomplices cheated banks out of HUF 400 million (EUR 1.05 million). She then sold 4,400 tonnes of corn to several people: however, the corn did not even actually exist! In the course of the nearly two dozen offences, she and her accomplices made off with another HUF 250 million (EUR 658,000), causing some HUF 520 million (EUR 1.37 million) damage to the victims.