Posted on 08/21/2004 8:08:23 PM PDT by nuconvert
Cook County Officials Want to Question Author Accused of Bilking Woman Out of $400,000
The Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) - County officials want to question author Norma Khouri over allegations she bilked a woman out of her home and $400,000 in savings bonds when she lived in Chicago in the 1990s. Khouri, 34, recently gained notoriety when an Australian newspaper accused her of fabricating material in her 2002 book "Forbidden Love," which she promoted as autobiographical.
Publishers have since pulled the book from shelves in the United States and Australia, saying it was a hoax. Khouri, who was living in Australia but may have recently returned to Chicago, has vowed to substantiate her work.
Attorneys with the Cook County Public Guardian's office contend that Khouri in 1994 forged the signature of Mary Baravikas on documents that allowed her to take control of Baravikas' home and $400,000 in savings bonds.
Documents from the county recorder's office show Khouri, named Norma Toliopoulos at the time, mortgaged Baravikas' home for $56,000 and then defaulted on the mortgage, causing foreclosure.
Baravikas' attorney, Dawn Lawkowski, said her 94-year-old client is destitute and suffers from dementia.
Khouri has not been charged, but the public guardian's office has asked police to reopen the investigation.
In 1999, Khouri's mother, Asma Bagain, charged that her daughter fraudulently transferred ownership of the family home to herself and borrowed against it without telling anyone. The mortgage company settled the case and let Bagain keep the home.
I thought that was just a movie ;-)
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