New York woman posed as Saudi princess

NEW YORK - A New York woman who posed in high-society circles as a Saudi princess pleaded guilty on Tuesday to grand larceny and insurance fraud and was ordered to a mental hospital.

Antoinette Millard, 42, used a special credit card to spend nearly US$1million ($1.4m) during a three-month shopping spree. She also cheated an insurance company of more than a quarter of a million dollars.

As part of her plea deal, Millard will spend one year at an in-patient psychiatric facility where she will receive intensive psychiatric treatment.

"If you woefully fail to abide by the treatment, you'll get a year in jail," Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Renee White told Millard.

At high-society events with celebrities and socialites, Millard introduced herself as "Princess Antoinette" and said she was also a former Victoria's Secret model.

In reality, Millard was a former vice president of the investment banking firm of Brown Brothers Harriman. She scammed Chubb Insurance in 2003, claiming US$262,000 worth of jewellery she was carrying was stolen when she was mugged on Madison Avenue in New York City.

She also spent US$950,000 using a no-limit "Centurion" card sent to her by American Express.

American Express sued her for the money, but she counter-sued saying she was mentally incompetent when she opened the account and the company should have known it.

Prosecutors said the credit card issue had been resolved.

After her arrest, she blamed her predicament on traumatic events in her life including being sexually harassed at work, and witnessing "people jumping out of the Twin Towers" while on her way to work on September 11, 2001.

- REUTERS