73 LAP OF LUXURY


SMOOTH CRIMINALS


Simon Usborne


AS A TOP GOVERNMENT lawyer during Donald Trump’s first term as US president, Jesse Panuccio was occupied with weighty issues of state. Right now, years aſter going back to private practice, his main concern is the return of his client’s missing Porsche. Chris Drummond, a Miami-based heir to a coal-mining fortune, had bought the one-of- a-kind classic 911 at auction for $3.5 million


in 2018. A deal that ought to have been a wise investment has since turned sour, aſter someone he had thought of as a close friend, who suggested Drummond go halves with him to buy the car, disappeared along with it. The former friend had played a long game,


presenting himself as a wealthy Middle East- ern businessman with ties to royalty. The joint investment capped what turned out to be a string of phoney ventures that were en- gineered to appeal to Drummond’s interests. They would ultimately cost him more than $25 million, with each ‘investment’ financing the next ruse.


The con ended when the car, which is known as Project Gold, vanished. ‘He’s on the run somewhere in the world and may be trying to sell this Porsche to collectors,’ says Panuccio, whose company – Boies Schil- ler Flexner – has recruited a PR firm in the


hope that publicity might throw up a lead. Panuccio is on the front line of an interna- tional crime wave that police forces, not least in London, appear ill-equipped to take on. As increasingly sophisticated individuals and gangs use ever more complex ways to target wealthy individuals, private investiga- tors and specialist lawyers are responding to record levels of theſt and high-stakes owner- ship disputes.


Sometimes the theſts aren’t complicated;


balaclavas and sledge hammers can still be effective. But, above the smash ’n’ grab model, thieves are getting smarter. And, as Drummond found to his cost, it’s oſten the people you know who pose the biggest threat. Panuccio says it’s harder than ever to build a tight circle of trust when you’ve got stuff worth stealing: ‘It’s like President Reagan once said, you have to “trust, but verify”.’


This ‘Project Gold’ classic Porsche 911, bought for $3.5 million in 2018, is missing


PORSCHE


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