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Former millionaire fraudster Jürgen Harksen is dead
Jürgen Harksen, the convicted millionaire fraudster who also took money from prominent investors in the 80s and 90s, is dead. Photo
© Karlheinz Schindler/dpa
He had defrauded some prominent victims of millions in a sophisticated system – fled to South Africa, was extradited and served time in prison. Now the 63-year-old died in his home on Mallorca.
The convicted millionaire fraudster Jürgen Harksen, who also took money from prominent investors in the 80s and 90s, is dead. He died on Tuesday at the age of 63 in his long-time home of Palma de Mallorca, his lawyer Gerhard Strate told the German Press Agency, thereby confirming corresponding reports the “Hamburger Abendblatt” and the “Bild”.
In the ARD two-part series “Gier”, which was broadcast in 2010, director Dieter Wedel was inspired by Harksen’s life story, with Ulrich Tukur in the lead role. Harksen, who was born in Flensburg, 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.