Marianne ‘Mair’ Smyth was found guilty of swindling four people out of more than $155,000 in Northern Ireland
A US podcaster and author who helped Northern Ireland authorities secure a fraud conviction on Thursday against a woman derisively known as the “Queen of the Con” says he hopes the case prompts the public to realize “these people are literally everywhere”.
Johnathan Walton said “it thrills me to no end” that Marianne “Mair” Smyth – who was initially convicted of scamming nearly $100,000 from him in Los Angeles by posing as the heiress to a $30m fortune – was found guilty by a Downpatrick crown court jury of swindling more than £115,000 ($155,000) from four people while working as a mortgage adviser.
Walton documented his victimization at the hands of Smyth in both the podcast Queen of the Con: The Irish Heiress as well as a new book titled Anatomy of a Con Artist: The 14 Red Flags to Spot Scammers, Grifters and Thieves. The reporting at the heart of both projects prompted a decisive tip about her whereabouts in Bingham, Maine, in February 2024 that led to Thursday’s guilty verdict against her about 3,500 miles away.
“I feel like this is why I got scammed – I was meant to stop her,” an emotional Walton, who traveled to Northern Ireland for the verdict, said by telephone after Smyth’s conviction. “I was meant to shine a light on how these people operate.”
