Netflix series 'Dom de Iludir' recalls real-life scam against collector in Rio
Plot with Marieta Severo and Alice Wegmann resembles the fraud that cost a collector R$ 725 million, according to prosecutors.
Translated from the Portuguese original by the Panorama newsroom. Read in Portuguese
Summary written by the Panorama newsroom from the sources listed below. Facts are attributed to the original publications.
The Netflix series "Dom de Iludir" presents a storyline with many points in common with a real scandal that took place in Rio de Janeiro, although the platform does not mention the case in its promotion, as Folha de S.Paulo pointed out on November 3.
The real episode came to light in 2022: an elderly art collector was convinced by a fake fortune-teller to part with highly valuable paintings while being held in private confinement by her own daughter. The loss was estimated at R$ 725 million by prosecutors.
According to police, the alleged psychic said the daughter was ill and would soon die and offered a spiritual treatment in exchange for money. In addition to the transfers, artworks and jewelry were taken.
In real life, the collector is Geneviève Boghici; in the fiction, Marieta Severo plays Lúcia Rossetti. The daughter, Sabine Boghici, becomes Maíra, played by Alice Wegmann, and the fortune-teller Rosa Stanesco becomes the healer Irina, played by Nanda Costta. In both cases, she was part of a gang.
Netflix filmed in a four-story, 3,900-square-meter apartment overlooking Sugarloaf Mountain, in Flamengo.