LA shakedown exposed as wealthy Saudi’s son beats US$20m fake rape claim
Three charged with extortion and several acts of conspiracy after 23-year-old Saudi man accused of rape, torture and imprisonment
The young Saudi man had been in Los Angeles for about a year studying English when the horrific accusations came to his door.
A woman he'd met during a 2012 family trip to Vienna had come to visit him in Los Angeles. But not long after she arrived, the woman went to police, saying the 23-year-old Saudi had raped, tortured and imprisoned her in his stylish Wilshire Boulevard high-rise condominium.
The charges stunned Thamer Albalwi and his family, one of the wealthiest in his native Saudi Arabia. Quickly, they raised US$3 million (HK$23.25 million) in bail to free him from jail. He stayed in his adoptive home and resolved to clear his name.
Albalwi appeared to achieve his goal, with a stunning reversal in recent days: Los Angeles authorities declared on Monday that the woman accusing him of abuse had concocted her story and then conspired with two prominent attorneys in an attempt to extort as much as US$20 million from the student's family.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Dabney on Friday declared Albalwi factually innocent while authorities charged Leyla Ors, 33, and lawyers Joseph Cavallo and Emanuel Hudson with extortion and several acts of conspiracy - to commit extortion, to receive a bribe and to obstruct justice. If convicted, each could spend up to four years in prison.
Despite his ordeal, Albalwi plans to continue his English studies in Los Angeles. "I prayed that the truth would come out," Albalwi said in a statement, "and, thanks to the American justice system, it did."
Ors appeared briefly in court on Monday but a judge postponed her arraignment one day. Cavallo was also scheduled to be arraigned; Hudson is slated to face the charges later in the month.