An Indonesian-born con artist is accused of defrauding more than 300 people, including actors, directors and photographers, out of more than $1 million between 2013 and 2020.

British justice on Tuesday approved the extradition of Hargobind Tahilramani, known as “the queen of the Hollywood scam” for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from film professionals posing as influential Hollywood women, using his skill as an impersonator of female voices and accents.

Although the court approved it, it will be up to UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman to decide whether or not to order Hargobind Tahilramani’s extradition.

Hargobind Tahilramani was arrested in England in 2020 following his 2019 indictment by a California court.

Tahilramani posed as Hollywood leaders such as Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm (producer of the Star Wars saga), the former head of Sony, Amy Pascal, and the former executive director of Paramount Studios, Sherry Lansing.

She is also said to have impersonated the ex-wife of media magnate Rupert Murdoch, Wendi, and sometimes imitated male executives.

According to the indictment consulted by AFP, the alleged fraudster contacted film professionals, to whom he proposed prestigious and lucrative employment opportunities for imaginary projects. The only condition was to travel to Indonesia for locations, documentation or preparation of the script.

Upon arrival, the con artist’s accomplices extorted money from the victims under the guise of “transportation costs” or other prohibitive advances, which the production would later reimburse.

But the unwary did not see their money back and those who complained or expressed doubts were explicitly threatened by Tahilramani, who intimidated them by sending them pictures of their children or spoke of “mutilation[los]the indictment said.

To oppose his extradition to the United States, his lawyers argued that detention conditions in that country would violate human rights and that the prisoner’s health would suffer as he would likely be in near isolation.