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Jürgen Harksen: Was considered a dazzling figure with a penchant for luxury, which even big names from show business fell for
Photo: Karlheinz Schindler/dpa
The former millionaire fraudster Jürgen Harksen is dead. Harksen, who also took money from prominent investors in the 1980s and 1990s, died on Tuesday at the age of 63 at his long-time residence in Palma de Mallorca.
His lawyer Gerhard Strate told the German Press Agency on Wednesday, confirming corresponding reports in the “Hamburger Abendblatt” and “Bild”.
The Flensburg-born man had skillfully persuaded investors to make investments, but in the opinion of the judiciary there was no real business idea behind them, but rather a kind of pyramid scheme.
He was considered a dazzling figure with a penchant for luxury, which even big names from show business as well as doctors and lawyers fell for.
In 2003, Harksen was sentenced to several years in prison in Hamburg for fraud.
He had previously fled to South Africa and thus escaped the reach of the German justice system for years.
In the two-part television series “Gier,” which aired in 2010, director Dieter Wedel was inspired by Harksen’s life story, with Ulrich Tukur in the lead role.
spr/dpa