Her elaborate schemes, among them posing as the heiress to an Irish fortune, swindled people out of huge sums and left Marianne Smyth with two felony convictions.
Ms. Smyth became known as the “Irish heiress” after one of her former victims, Johnathan Walton, started a podcast in 2021 about his experience.
The two became close friends after meeting in 2013, and Mr. Walton, a reality television producer, said that Ms. Smyth had claimed to be from a prominent Irish family.
But she was facing money problems, she told him, and was battling relatives in Ireland over an inheritance worth tens of millions of dollars.
Sympathetic, Mr. Walton lent her money and the use of his credit card, an amount that totaled more than $63,000.
Persons:
Marianne Smyth, Smyth, ”, Johnathan Walton, Walton
Organizations:
U.S . Marshals Service
Locations:
American, Northern Ireland, U.S, Maine, Irish, Ireland