We focus on the part of the internet that most people don't know about that's...
Undercover in the furthest corners of the Dark Web, U.S. Special agents are on a mission to locate and rescue children from abuse.
From the BBC World Service, World of Secrets, the Darkest Web follows their shocking investigations, listen on BBC.com or wherever you get to a BBC podcast. Fraudatious is a mobile production for BBC Studios. You went in through a, like, almost like a curtain. You go upstairs and the treating everybody as if they're a multimillion-pound customer. Bridget is stepping into a dodging urban showroom in Milan. It's invite-only. It's in an Italian Palazzo, Renaissance architecture, Canada, Laupres, and Goldleaf everywhere. Everything here is halted,
kature. This is a brand that channels drama and decadence. You know a bit like when you see these 19s, 60s filmed with either gardener and they're all, like, glamorous with big dresses on them. It's a bit like that. It does to give out a bit. It's lovely. Bridget's friend, Yikatarina, secured the invite. She's in her 60s, and she's arrived dressed for the occasion. Bridget says Yikatarina's also brought her greyhounds and her driver, plus a young makeup artist.
Yikatrina is beaming with delight as she spins around in a multicolored, harlequin-like outfit. She stretches its feather-ledges out with pride. And everyone's at oh yes, maddo. She was where she wanted to be, beautiful clothing, money's not a product you don't even talk about money. Bridget meanwhile is watching from the sidelines. She says she's shown to a table and offered something to eat while she wakes. What I call a staff pastor, which is usually the basic pastor of
“the day that's what the staff eat. But Bridget isn't part of Yikatarina's staff.”
The problem is, she's not sure exactly what she is anymore.
It's 2019, and over the last two years, Bridget has gone from being a stranger to a casual acquaintance to well, seemingly being part of an entourage. By this point, she feels like she's playing along, trying to avoid a conflict, which has been brewing. I think I'll start with beginning to think I'm going to wait, you know, I'll see where this is going. Bridget wishes now that she can never gone on that trip to Milan, but there's a lot more she would like to rewind and erase if she
could. I just remember thinking, "God, this is really weird, you know?" And then to you, she can be
“charming, is charming, can be. And that's how she ropes you in. Yikatarina Barrett”
certainly manages to rope people in. More people than you could imagine. I'm Vicky Baker, and I'm a reporter who specializes in investigating con artists. Fashionista, who posed as multi-millionaire to Swindle Friend faces jail. That's the headline
from the Times, that first pulled me into this story. This tale had all the ingredients to grab my
intention. A high society Swindle, a friendship gone wrong, a potential crime. I clicked for more, and I saw the photos, extraordinary pictures that show the so-called fashionista, Yikatarina Barrett, and they've been tracked down on the streets of Monaco by the Daily Mail. It's a tabloid gotcha moment. Yikatarina seems unaware she's being photographed. She's in her late 60s, pencil thin, with long-strait flame-red hair. She's wearing a garrish royal purple Chanel mini dress,
and leather knee-high boots. Three equally-life greyhounds trail behind her. She struck me as highly eccentric to say the least. Now I was even more intrigued. And as for the woman who is apparently Swindle's, Bridget Hutchcroft, she's pictured too. She's of a similar age, also in her 60s. She's dressed more casually in jeans and a bootplay jacket, and she's smiling softly into the camera. Part of the story seems so straightforward. It seems like Bridget's been had,
“but nothing in this story is straightforward. That's why soon learn.”
This is a story that goes beyond a feud between two women. Behind it is a deep web of truth
Lies which at times seems almost impossible to disentangle.
From novel in association with BBC Studios, this is "Froordatius".
[Music] Episode one, Pandora's Books. You enter Pandora dress agency under an arch of artificial flowers that makes a giant garland around the shops front door. Red roses and pink pianies. Finding it feels a bit like being
“let in on a secret. It's tucked away on a residential back street in night's bridge,”
one of London's most affluent areas. Just around the corner, Harrod's department store is heaving with tourists browsing luxury goods, taking selfies and looking for the latest craze. Bridget's Pandora dress agency feels a well-dapart. It has the look of a regular unpretentious thrift shop. Every inch of space is utilized. Roe upon roe of rails are tightly crammed with clothes
in every colour you can imagine. Strap issues with tearing high heels sit on shelves above them, handbags dangle from the ceiling. But look a little closer and you'll see it's all organized. One rail is marked cashmere. Another is for long evening dresses. And the labels, Dior, Chanel, Gucci. Everything in here has a designer label. There must be thousands of items for sale. I mean we've got probably about about 5000 on the shop floor. What we've also got
stock waiting to go on to the shop floor. Bridget has owned this place since 1988 and she's its lifeblood. She's petite with cropped hair that's dyed a fiery copper red. She dresses
casually but I get the impression that she's never without a special touch. Today that's a
sparkly brooch on a fitted jacket. Her style feels quirky and down to earth. Much like the shop. Bridget is from Staley Bridge in Greater Manchester. And for an early age she was looking for adventure. I was very adventurous. I was constantly wanting to get away. I could see the pair
“nines which were about maybe three miles in the distance. I was always in. I mean I think I'm”
going to climb over there and find out what's on the other side. It sounds like Bridget grew up possessing a rebellious streak. She tells me as a kid she wants broke into an avatar and let the animals out after climbing through a perspex roof at night with friends. I thought, yeah let's let them loose. I can't like the idea of I'm killing them anyway. So yeah we're constantly letting the
carries on the sheet. It was Bridget's brother who first noticed the Pandora dress agency
was up for sale in the 1980s. He proposed it as a joint venture because he knew how much he loved secondhand fashion. Bridget tells me she didn't think about it for long. She gathered all her savings and borrowed some money from a friend to take the leap. And we were completely naive to the business
“and everything. And what we made these decisions yet out of my head. And I do remember thinking,”
if I lose all my money, it doesn't really matter because I can make it all again because I'm only twenty eight. And that's actually how I went into it. It paid off. It's now been almost 40 years and Pandora's star-studded clientele includes Sharon Stone, Catherine Z to Jones and Paris Hilton. But of all the clients who frequented the shop during Bridget's four decades of ownership, there's one in particular that I want to know more about. And her name is of course,
Yekatrina Barrett. Yekatrina became a client during a period when Bridget was on extended sick leave. And she became notorious among Pandora's staff who noticed her thick Russian sounding accent. She was very bossy. This is Sona, the shop manager. Bridget's right hand woman. Like, pay attention to me deal with me, type of attitude. I have money as what I heard from one of the girls that used to deal with her. They also felt they were constantly answering her calls.
Yeah, she's a very gnome, every other day maybe. Bridget knew all of Yekatrina,
The two of them had never properly spoken face to face.
She said, "Oh, Sona, can you go and talk to her? Can you do this? Can you do that?
“Can you go to a house and get the stuff?" She was avoiding her.”
As soon as the dogs came in, that's when they befriended each other. To understand what happened next, I need Bridget to take me back to that moment. This is Summer's Day in 2017. Yekatrina is outside Pandora trying to maneuver her luxury card down the narrow street. She's without her usual chauffeur. It's first time I saw her. She drove herself in. I think it was a banglet. She's wearing designer clothes,
top to tail. And when she sets out of the car, she's followed by her greyhounds. There were very tiny, very delicate. Bridget recalls her being flustered as she comes through the shop door. She says she needs someone to watch the dogs because she must go to herends. Sorry, I said sorry. In the Gelsaroids, it's a Katrina. And I said, "Oh, right, I saw
you can leave the dogs here because I do like dogs." Bridget has always been an animal
lover, so it doesn't seem like much of an inposition. She says Yekatrina is a few
“civilly grateful. And then after that, she was, you know, "Oh, you must come to my house."”
I was saying my car. According to Sona, Bridget is also enthusiastic about the new connection the following day when I came in the next day. Oh, Yekatrina came with the dogs. The dogs love me. She's asked me to babysit the dogs. I was like, "Huh? I looked at the other girl and went, what happened here?" Sona isn't keen on Yekatrina, but she decides it's none of her business who her boss wants to spend time with. And it doesn't seem like a big ask. We're not.
This is babysitting the dogs. But it was a decision that would end up completely derailing Bridget's life.
We focus on the part of the internet that most people don't know about, that's called the dark web. Undecava in the furthest corners of the dark web, US special agents are on a mission to locate and rescue children from abuse. From the BBC world service, world of secrets, the darkest web follows their shocking investigations. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get to a BBC podcast. Yekatrina's apartment is on a prestigious pedestrianised side street in Mayfare. This is one of
the most expensive neighborhoods, not just in London, but in the world. As I listen to Bridget tell the story, I can already picture the surroundings, the five star hotels of Park Lane, the designer shops of New Bond Street, the abundance of showrooms for luxury cars, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Asston Martin. She had like a big table in the dining area and then some beautiful chairs and paintings, a designer did it all for her. Yekatrina lives her alone with her dogs,
but Bridget notes there are often other people milling around. There's a driver, a PA, a housekeeper. And she had these poor women making her bed, honestly it would have taken me a week to make that bed. Over the next few weeks, the dog sitting becomes regular, and before long Bridget's going to Yekatrina's place, every other day to collect the greyhounds, Luca and Louis. I should point out that this is happening at an unusual time in Bridget's life. She's recovering from a serious
“breakdown. That's why she's been off sick. She still isn't sure what triggered it, but having also”
received a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, she's been reassessing her priorities. Her hectic work focus life has been forced to slow right down. And I was on medication, but I also think I also wasn't taking it correctly. You know, I'd take it almost like a toffee, so I've been some today, you know, and there's nothing wrong with me, you know, you think you're okay. It works in a strange way, feeling back taller. You know, you can be sometimes well in with everybody, you know,
then next night you dead without any emotion. Bridget has no qualms talking about her mental health publicly. She sees it as integral to the story. She says she remembers telling Yekatrina that the dog walking seems to be aiding her recovery. Walking the dogs is like, "Oh, good therapy for me." She does laps around Hyde Park. It's big lake and expansive lawns are less than five minutes from the apartment. Whereas on your own, you don't want wearing a park, I'd watch the cafeteria
something, you know. Now I really did like the dogs, actually. When Bridget goes back to the apartment to return the gray hands, Yekatrina is usually at the long dining room table. Bridget says Yekatrina
Has often busy putting a makeup on, which tends to be heavy.
liner and dark winged shadow. She does her makeup like she's a makeup artist, you know, she's
obviously been taught. Bridget finds her new acquaintance unusual, but she says she can also be funny and charming. Is it a budding friendship? I would say, I wouldn't say a bit looser than their friendship,
“just an intrigue. I think that was slightly intrigued with her. I keep probing Bridget for more”
details. From reading the newspapers, I know this relationship has doomed, but I figured it would have had its high points in the early days, surely. Didn't start off rosy. Went and having heart to heart chats, sharing everything, forming a close bond. Bridget insists it was
never like that. I didn't hold a hand off, you know, kiss a good night or anything. And like,
I'm vatching you over to Harrods. Do you have a hair thing, you know, or are you having your hair watched? Come over with me. That was about as chilly as it got. She says that connection always felt quite superficial. I know one dish. Oh, she said, let's have a talk. Tell me, what do you think of the royals? I wonder if there was a bit more water there in a short connection. And maybe this is just part of Bridget's coping mechanism. To dismiss recollections of any good times because she's
been hurt. I guess that's something I may not get to the bottom of instantly. What Bridget does learn is that your Katrina was born in Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union. She also recalls her saying she gets her money via a trust based in Lichtenstein, which she says was set up by her grandfather. So she appears to be some sort of eras. As the summer weeks roll on, your Katrina seems to be moving Bridget more and more into her world. Bridget remembers her
taking her to George, an exclusive member's club in Mayfer, where she was having a meeting with her
“lawyer. My usual table. That's what she recollects her saying on arrival. Bridget feels like she's”
somehow in the inner circle. And it's happened so fast. How did she introduce you to people? Oh, this is Bridget, my great friend, or I've known Bridget a long time or something like that. Bridget said she finds herself straddling a strange position between Quarzy, friend, and staff member. She said she even starts running errands via Katrina, multi-millionaire-style errands. One day she did all I wanted you to go and see a house for me, a flat. I went into this huge flat, selling for millions.
The flat is in Grove and Square, an area filled with ground townhouses built for the nobility in the late 1700s. You might know it as the setting for some of the London mansions in the TV show, Bridgeton. But she was implying that she wanted to buy that property in this, and then you had to
report back. They should take a look. She thinks it was great. It's amazing. It's amazing. It was amazing.
Bridget ends up viewing two flats on the square, worth 25 million pounds each. She recalls Yikatrina telling her that she intends to buy both of them, and knocked down the intervening walls to make one huge luxury home. It's early September 2017, just two months after Bridget's first dog-sitting favor. When their relationship takes an unexpected turn. Bridget is visiting the Mayfare apartment
when she says Yikatrina gets a call but causes a commotion. She remembers Yikatrina starting to sob. She was a terrible say. She's not alone. There were quite a few men and they turned out to be the trustees. Bridget thinks they're from her trust in Lichtenstein. They were saying, "I'm so sorry, Yikatrina, if you're lost, and I'm so sorry if you're lost." One of the groups she can't remember who tells her the man who managed the trust has passed away
unexpectedly. The girl on the head died and there was sweet on each other and he helped to live and he trapped her moneye and she couldn't get out and moneye. She says the mood feels desperate and mixture of grief and panic. And one of them said to me, "Are you going to be able to
“help Yikatrina?" And I said, "Well, yeah, if you need to go, it's awful, isn't it?"”
He hand her his business card. Bridget feels all eyes on her. She agrees to help so Yikatrina can pay some apartment costs while her cash flow issues are being resolved. Bridget lends her 7,500 pounds. And that's how it starts.
Back at Pandora, Bridget tells Sona what's happened.
difficult time. On top of her problems with the trust, her estranged husband has farmed for divorce. Bridget says she's agreed to help Yikatrina out so she doesn't get behind in her payments to
“her lawyers. Sona is not keen on this. I think like her. Simple. But she feels there's only so much”
she can say. I'm like, okay, it is Bridget's business. So she complies when Bridget asked her to record it all properly on the shop computer and send confirmation emails to Yikatrina. And then on that system I created a load category. Sona records the running total. 14,500 pounds. Over the next year, Bridget and Yikatrina continue to spend time together. Bridget agrees to
go on trips with her. They go to Israel and Monaco. Bridget's invited to stay Yikatrina's
multi-million pound apartment in Monte Carlo. I assume these are all lavish all expenses paid
in vites. But Bridget says Yikatrina often asks her to pick up tabs along the way. She tries to implonally, I'll pay you when we get back to London, stop making a fuss. Bridget knows Yikatrina is still having cash flow problems when it comes to paying her bills. But Yikatrina doesn't exactly seem to be tightening her belt either. I wonder if an odd way this feels reassuring to Bridget. Maybe Yikatrina doesn't need to cut her cloth, because her financial situation will indeed
soon be resolved. Should I try and get that photo to graph? It has still got it. With me in her. Oh yeah, where I'm in then Monte Carlo should have taken more pictures of it. Where is then? And she looks totally different. Bridget gets her phone to start scrolling through old photos. She finds the one she's looking for. Yikatrina has her arm around Bridget. They're both in
sunhats and sunglasses. See, she's quite bony. I'm bony. You know, not bad. She's not got loads of makeup on. She looks friendly. She is. You do look like sort of close pals on holiday.
“This is about the trimmys we ever got. Would you say you were having fun on that trip?”
Not really. No, I found it a bit strange. She isn't my person. It was like a theater to be honest. And there was a light on the outside watching. And you want to see what happens next? Where's this going? Yeah, exactly. Where was this going? Back in Pandora dress agency. By early 2018, Sona is becoming more suspicious of this new friendship. The more time Bridget spends with Yikatrina Barrett, the more Bridget is withdrawing from her normal social circle. She's been
secretive. Whenever Barrett first used to leave the shop. One time Sona catches the briefest snippets
of one of their calls. Be sadly distressed. How do you need a conversation is Be's Toe? If you know Bridget, you know her. It's very hard to explain. I'm a good at reading people. Sona was particularly good at reading Bridget, having known her for more than a decade. If she trusts me, she tells you everything. But when she doesn't tell you, and then if it gets too much, then she drops hints and you have to pick up on the hints. Sona's instincts tell her Bridget as keeping a secret
and the weight of it is getting too much. Considering Bridget's recent breakdown, this feels really concerning. Then Sona has a penny drop moment. What if Bridget has also been learning Yikatrina money from her personal account as well without anyone's knowledge? That's when my flag went. So Sona decides to call one of Bridget's best friends, Roger.
“There's some going on. I think Bridget's getting money to bear it from her account. You need to check.”
Check. Sona feels Roger can have the conversation that she can't. She knows Bridget well, but Bridget is still her boss. I think he was in Spain that time. So I have to come back to UK and then he can do it with it. So Sona waits. And as soon as Roger is back, he goes to Bridget's flat, which is just around the corner from Pandora. He looks his old friend and the eye and are said directly. What is going on with Yikatrina? That's when he came back and told me.
Bridget has lent Yikatrina money, a lot of money, more than a million pounds.
I was like, what the hell?
14,000 pounds sounded like a lot to learn to renew acquaintance. How did it escalate so much? To tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands, then more than a million? I have so many more questions I want to ask Bridget, but I also want to try and follow the story as it unfolded at the time to try and understand the decisions that came next to. So I'm going to meet the first person that Sona phoned when she realised Bridget was in trouble. I will get the X-ray out please.
“I'd be lovely. And did I have it as he was caramelised banana French toast for me, please?”
Oh wow. Thank you. It's different than ever. Never tried it this way.
Fine, that's good. Thank you. Thank you. I've come to Langan's Brasserie, a May Fair Institution, to meet Roger, Bridget's best friend. In the 1970s and 80s, this French-star bistro was co-owned by the actor Michael Caine, and it was the ultimate haunt for London's Bombie Vers. Some things have barely changed since it's heyday. The red neon sign that gives it its
sultry vibe, the heavy art decador that keeps out the riff raf. The signature dish still being spinnish soufflé with an interview source. And I came here pretty religiously, through all those years, I was liked it, and Bridget and I had come here a lot together too. Roger is an aerodite London gent in his early 70s. He's dressed smartly with a silk hanker chief in his jacket pocket. He's a retired night's Bridget state agent, and he's also Bridget's X. We had 10 fantastic
years together, and still retain the deepest of bones of friendship that you could ever have. He speaks very highly of her. The sheer energy that she had in enthusiasm, you just couldn't keep up with her. She was an absolute viable. It was great to be around. I loved it. Roger says he knows anyone coming to the story of fresh will struggle with the idea of someone lending a new friend such a vast amount of money. When he totals it up with Bridget,
he's shocked to discover she's lent your Katrina more than 1.4 million pounds.
“But Roger thinks it's important to understand that Bridget was in a bad place at the time,”
and not thinking rationally. Depression is a dreadful dreadful thing, and being too high is equally dangerous, because you think you're invincible. And it's really trying to steer a middle path and the medication and everything else tries to keep you on equilibrium. And this of course makes you incredibly vulnerable and incredibly vulnerable. I've picked Langen's Brasserie as our meeting
point for a reason. This is where Roger arranged a crucial meeting, not long after finding out
about Bridget's loans, and I want to ask him more about how that unfolded. I've got it in my diary still of 2019 on the 24th of January. He's brought the old leather bound diary to show me. He puts on his reading glasses and points at the entry. Lunch at Langen's 1245 is in Blue Byro highlighted in yellow. I write everything in my diary. I mean I've always written
“the dive since I was about 20s. I've got all my diary. I wonder if this highlighting came later”
when he realised how significant this meeting really was. After receiving Sony's phone call, he'd gone to Bridget's flat around the corner from Pandora. Together they started looking through her bank statements. And then Bridget confessed the situation to me, how much you've entered, and that is when I was in absolute shock. I can't help wondering how Bridget had more than a
million pounds sitting in her account in the first place. Most people don't have those sort of
funds at their fingertips. No, no, no, no, they don't. The money was supposed to be in her account temporarily, he says, following some property sales. Over the years part of her business strategy had been to build up a portfolio of property, very sensibly, incredibly successfully. I mean, you know, for the little girl from Stanley Bridge to the woman, you know, she was quite a force. It's a tale of a different era. Bridget went to alone, worked hard, and was able to invest
the money she earned in the right place at the right time. But this doesn't mean she was swimming in spare cash. I mean, although she had that amount of money, it wasn't all her money if you see what I mean. A lot of that money had to be repaid to mortgage companies to different loans that she had. The money that Bridget had lent to Eccatrina was totally hard earned money. That was 100% fully taxed British money. Everything she's ever done is entirely off her own back. No help from
Anybody else.
to hear that Bridget had asked for her money back repeatedly, but to no avail. Was it in the back
“of your mind that she could be a con artist? Well, it always thinks that, of course,”
about anybody that borrows money from anybody in that way, and you do automatically think somebody could be a con artist. Don't forget, I was in the business of measuring people about being con artists, whether they were good for the money, you know, when people were coming to me to buy, you know, at 2 or 5 or 10 million pound property in the heart of London. But she had all the trappings. You know, she had the property in Monaco, the tax reasons. She had the property in May fair. She had the life
style that went with it, and she exuded the confidence that went with it. And she'd been around
quite a long time as far as I could see, even though I'd never met her, from what I've been told
“about. She did have a level of credibility. Roger decided they needed to sort all this out,”
and what better way to do that than lunch at Langen's. So, Bridget knew that's where you're the two people were joined by to lunch back in 2019, or bankers, from the private Swiss bank, EFG International. Bridget knew that's where Yekaterina held on the count, and this in Roger's mind added to that feeling of credibility. EFG is renowned for working with high net worth individuals, but he wanted further reassurance, and he was well connected enough to be able to
pull a favor. He knew one of the bankers through other business dealings. So it's a Thursday lunch time when Roger Bridget and the two bankers slide onto one of these leather bankers. Being a celebrity honed, Langen's is a good place for a confidential discussion. It's to sweetwaters know exactly
“when to disappear out of your shot. What Roger wants to know is, is Yekaterina really ultra rich?”
Could this be a misunderstanding? Or is she a fake? A con woman? We didn't know what to expect. We both were very concerned at the time leading up to it.
We kind of thought we could smell a big rat. I'd never actually met the woman in person at all.
Bridget had been reassuring me, but I'm sure Bridget had her doubts. As people do, I had mage doubts. I just snobbed. Over lunch, Bridget recounts her story, and explains how much money she's lent. Roger asked the bankers what they think. And I think, for memory, the conversation did start or say, look, we can't talk specific specifics, but and then our new introduction, very quickly volunteered. Look, they haven't got anything to worry about. She says,
riches of Rothschild. She's good for it. That was her banker using the phrase. That was her banker, her personal banker, using that very phrase. She says, rich as a Rothschild, and that was it. The Rothschilders were a mighty banking dynasty. They were considered to be one of the richest families in the world in the 19th century. Roger says he and Bridget look to each other and Bridget has sigh of relief. It felt like they'd got what they came for. You're feeling gosh, thank goodness
for that. It's such a kind of an evocative saying that he wouldn't forget it. No, no, I mean, it just painted a picture, a very positive picture. Yep, that inspired confidence totally. I don't mean you said that about, I hope you were certainly saying that about me, that's for sure. So you see what I mean, it's not something you use lightly. It means like I would interpret it as money is no octet. Yes, absolutely no octet, yeah, absolutely no octet. Roger turns back to the
diary and shows me the note he wrote in it afterwards. I named the two people plus Bridget. The bill was £281.84 for four of us, and I said, I write after it, it looks more promising for Bridget's money, at least she may have the money back. What it meant was, well, she's, you know, she's okay for the money, she's good for it, she's got it, she's not some corporate that's pretending to be something, she's not. I contacted EFG International about this meeting. They declined to comment.
After the lunch in Lange's Brasserie, Roger and Bridget travel back in a cab to Pandora
Dress agency.
You know, and Bridget was almost the same. Well, you see, I wasn't quite so stupid as you think I was,
you know, because she sort of, in a way, then justified what she'd done to herself by the fact that she hadn't made a terrible miscalculation or misjudgment of this person, which actually was
“quite important to her. That's interesting, that hit her hard, did it? Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think”
she didn't like to feel that she'd been a complete fool. From that point on, Bridget tries to play nice to keep Yekatrina on side. And it's after the Lange's meeting, the Bridget decides to go on another trip with her to Milan and the Dolce Angabana showroom. A middle this theatricality, Bridget feels that there is an uncomfortable undertone. She's constantly wondering when she's going to get her money back. It does feel a bit strange to me that she would travel with her at this point,
but Roger likens it to a divorce. You don't cut someone off instantly, you're still trying to reach an agreement. There is still some semblance of a friendship there, and Bridget is still in denial.
“She wants to believe the situation will come good. And beginning to realize that there must have”
been a lot more going on here, behind the scenes, to have convinced Bridget to part with the
money in the first place. What was Yekatrina saying to her, how was she able to have this sort of
influence? I'll say it, even though one of my brothers had rang me up and said, "Oh, Bridget, I've got the lawyers chairs for me, did you? And I have to give him $200, and I probably said, "No, can't possibly afford that." But she has a magnetic effect on you, and I don't know why. This is something I'll hear about again and again in this story. Yekatrina's magnetic effect on people, and how that's impossible to put into words. So it's now down to Bridget to retain friendly
relations while chasing her money from Yekatrina, which she does via calls and what's that message is. And there's a glimmer of hope when according to Bridget, Yekatrina agrees to repay her soon
after her divorce is finalized. But the first deadline is missed, and then the second, and then the third.
Bridget is falling back into a serious depression, struggling to get out of bed. In November 2019, more than two years since the first loan, Bridget receives a phone call. I was going into the shop. My phone rang, and it was her, and I actually said to her, "Before you say anything." I said, "You even give me the money, or I'm coming to get the money." And she said, "I do not want to be like that, you know, come over, we'll talk about it." I said, "No, it's over."
“I won't remember, and she said, "Well, if you say that one more time, you never see your money”
for a hundred years." You won't see your money for a hundred years. That for Bridget is the final straw. This isn't how you speak to friends. That was a trigger. All right, is a trigger. I thought, "What? All the hell have given you?" And you have the audacity to tell me if I keep on pushing that it. Bridget decides the time for playing nicely as over. If she wants her money back, she's going to have to fight for it.
People don't know about, but it's got the dark web. undercover in the furthest corners of the dark web. U.S. Special agents are on a mission to locate and rescue children from abuse. From the BBC World Service, World of Secrets, the darkest web follows their shocking investigations. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get to a BBC podcast.
Finsbury Circus in the City of London is an elegant arc of limestone buildings, grand and baroque in style. I'm at number 30. The officers of legal firm, Devonshiz. I'm meeting Phillip Barden, one of the firm's partners. He's in his 60s, suited, booted, wearing glasses. He has a firm handshake, as you'd expect from a man with a reputation
As a particularly tough city solicitor.
That's his ringtone.
“Papi-gel, I'm in a meeting, he's a quick. He's a busy man.”
I'll say I'll just kind of pop out for a minute. I just got to pop out for a minute.
While Phillip is out of the room, I look back at my notes. I know that by the time Bridget came here in August 2020, she had serious concerns and was ready to escalate the dispute. So how did Bridget's case learn on your desk? Somebody referred Bridget to me. I can't recall now who that was. Over the course of an hour or two,
she told us her story about who she was, how she had developed Pandora, how such a successful business, how she met Echatrina, and how she advanced significant sums to Echatrina. It was a very sad story. Phillip says he was skeptical of Echatrina from the outset.
It was obvious to me, from my experience, these were not loans that were going to be repaid.
And the issue really was we need to get to the bottom of exactly what's happened. He's also not convinced Echatrina is as rich as she makes out. He starts by referring Bridget to the police. I had a contact and I went to the contact and I was introduced to an officer from a specialist squad. I met with the officer, but as is so often the case, the police were not interested to take any action.
And why is that? Because they see fraud as a civil offense by a large and my understanding is that failed to repay a loan is not a crime, but misrepresenting yourself to get a loan could be fraud or is it not as simple as that? Yeah, misrepresenting yourself dishonestly, I would say.
So fraud is a crime of dishonesty. Loans can be tricky territory.
“You need to spend time on picking relationships, going through all communications.”
When Phillip starts doing this, he is sure Bridget has a case. She clearly advanced the money. She hadn't gifted it. Because you would expect to see evidence of a gift in the sense that people like Bridget and Echatrina communicate a lot on social media, what's that? And we go through those communications and we see the nature of the conversations that are taking place.
And it was quite clear that these were monies which have been advanced as loans.
Bridget wasn't in a position to gift somebody over a million pounds.
So without the police on board for a criminal case, Bridget's left with one route, civil action, she can sue Echatrina. Phillip strongly believes that with his help, Bridget can win this case. And yet he also strongly advises she drops it. I said at a very early stage, I will get you a judgement.
Because I was confident that if we fought our way through the court processes, we would get judgement. But that's a piece of paper converting that into cash can be very difficult with these people. Roger Slater recalls, you're using the phrase, you're opening Pandora's box.
“Do you remember using that? I mean, it just feels like a very apt metaphor.”
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it was an obvious metaphor to using this case. So you are opening Pandora's box because you don't know what's going to come out once you start litigating. What their side of the story is going to be? What they're going to make up. Bridget at this point isn't backing down.
From the very beginning, it was appreciated that it may be difficult to get any money back. But Bridget in order to help her recover from the bipolar episode that she was then in, needed the comfort of knowing that her story had been listened to, and she had been believed. It's interesting hearing Philip tap into the psychological side of this, too. I'm discovering that this case is about more than the money.
There are all sorts of other emotions wrapped up in this, and this is something I'm going to have to ask Bridget more about. As I'm sure you can imagine, Philip's services do not come cheap, so this is a huge risk for Bridget. The stakes are high, but she's all in. She engages Philip despite his initial protostations.
And then you just have to baton down the hatches and fight your way through the court process. What Bridget and Roger don't yet know is that they are embarking on a quest that will consume years of their lives and become a driving obsession.
They are still trying to figure it all out, and so am I.
the legal case is long underway and still not yet resolved.
I'm playing catch-up, and there is heaps to catch up on.
“Can I ever get to the root of your Katrina's wealth and how she operates?”
The how is still bothering me? She is lying, a snake, like a serpent she can sort to get you to do things you wouldn't need to.
We are dealing with perhaps a slipperyest fish that I've ever ever come across in my life.
I'm already realizing she's a very hard woman to pin down. Geographically, psychologically, legally.
“What started as a casual encounter in night's bridge has now become an international pursuit,”
which will take Bridget from Liechtenstein to Monaco, Switzerland to Israel.
I've only got the beginnings of the story so far, but one thing I do know is that after
Bridget launches her legal action, Yikatrina goes straight on the attack, turning everything I've heard so far on its head. She sees Bridget's legal letter, and she countersues. Yikatrina now says that Bridget owes her money, not the other way around.
“And guess what, Yikatrina also claims the total value is way more than a million pounds.”
When Bridget took this battle on, she had no idea who she was up against. Fraudatius is produced by novel and association with BBC studios. For more from novel, visit novel.ordio. The show is written and produced by me, Vicky Baker. The assistant producer is Valeria Rocker.
The editor is Philippa Goodrich. Our fact-checker is Danya Suleman, production management, from Sheree Houston, Charlotte Wolf, and Joe Savage. Sound design mixing and scoring by Daniel Kempson, narration recorded by Nick Thekarekron, development by Sonny Mar,
Jess Brown Swinburne, Anna Fielen, and Willard Foxton. Additional production by Leona Hamid, Sasha Baker, and Ziana Usef. The series artwork is designed by Christina Lemko. Our executive producer is Max O'Brien. Fraudatius is a novel production for BBC studios.
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