An NYC psychic con artist got the book thrown at her after the “master manipulator” swindled over $4 million out of her victim’s family and lover.
NYC psychic con artist sentenced
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Gina Rita Russell, 35, was given a prison term of 10 years and five months and ordered to repay more than $4.2 million last week.
Russell was indicted in 2018 on various charges, including conspiracy, extortion, fraud, money laundering, and witness tampering.
Her criminal actions began in October 2009 when Russell performed an alleged psychic reading for a woman in Manhattan.
At the time, she warned the woman that misfortune would befall her or her family unless she gave her money and valuables to counteract the results of the reading.
Russell even went as far as getting the woman to harm herself to expel “demons,” according to court documents.
Initially, the woman gave Russell cash she earned from working her legitimate jobs, but Russell later convinced her to deceive her father for more funds under the guise of therapy, sleep studies, and university expenses.
Russell even had a relative impersonate a New York therapist during a phone call with the father to make the charges seem legitimate.
Con woman turns victim into sex worker
As a result, the woman’s father provided substantial sums of money. But when that well dried up, Russell persuaded the woman to become a sex worker and and pimped her out by advertising sensual massage services online.
That’s how Russell’s victim met a married CFO of an HVAC and plumbing construction company who fell in love with her.
At that point, Russell devised a scheme where the woman claimed to owe money to New York mobsters and that she would be harmed if the debt wasn’t repaid.
The man fell for the ruse, embezzling over $4 million from his employer over a three-month period in 2017, to pay off the alleged mobsters.
Russell had another one of her family of accomplices impersonate a mobster on a phone call, threatening the man and his family.
After the call, the CFO delivered cash and gold bars to locations in New York, which were then spent by Russell and her family.
The case was exposed in 2017 when the man didn’t show up to work, prompting his employer to investigate financial discrepancies.
Russell, charged with interfering with interstate commerce by extortion in July 2019, had her sentencing scheduled for May 2024, after her co-defendant family members were sentenced.
Russell’s co-defendants, including her ex-common-law husband, his two brothers, and their parents, were also indicted and have pleaded guilty.
Authorities described the family as having a taste for luxury but a disdain for honest work, preferring to exploit others.
“Russell and members of the Evans/Kaslov family have a penchant for the finer things in life but are averse to engaging in honest work, choosing to callously use people instead,” prosecutors wrote in a memo.
NYC psychic con artist caught in new scam
However, before her sentencing, Russell was caught engaged in similar criminal activities in Los Angeles.
On the opposite coast, she convinced a woman there of her psychic abilities, defrauded the woman’s father, and persuaded her to raise money through sex work.
This revelation led U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to issue a warrant for her arrest, and Russell was re-arrested in March.
In her defense memo, Russell’s lawyer noted her lack of formal education and described her as functionally illiterate.
Her upbringing in the Gypsy-Romani tradition, which included performing psychic readings and acquiring money from clients, was cited as a factor in her criminal behavior.
“Ms. Russell was raised by parents who quite literally taught her how to con people out of money under the guise of the Gypsy-Romani culture,” the sentencing memo read.
“While this consideration does not excuse for Ms. Russell’s criminality, it certainly explains how Ms. Russell finds herself before this Court facing prison.
Prosecutors acknowledged her difficult childhood but emphasized her lack of empathy and remorse.
“Every person who has been unlucky enough to cross paths with her for a psychic reading and bought into her web of lies,” prosecutors wrote about Russell. “There is no doubt that she is a danger to society.”
They argued for a sentence of over 12½ years, describing her as a “master manipulator” and a “complete menace to society.”
“Russell is a master manipulator who has shown no genuine remorse for her horrific criminal conduct, no respect for the rule of law, and no intention of behaving in a law-abiding manner,” prosecutors noted.
