Top Muslim fashion designer who shot to global fame jailed for Indonesia travel agency scam
Anniesa Hasibuan and her husband convicted of cheating customers who booked pilgrimage trips to Islam’s holiest city Mecca through a travel agency they operated
An Indonesian fashion designer who shot to global fame with her Muslim-themed collection was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Wednesday for a multimillion dollar fraud and money-laundering.
A court near Jakarta convicted Anniesa Hasibuan, 31, and her husband of cheating customers who booked pilgrimage trips to Islam’s holiest city Mecca through a travel agency they operated.
The pair were accused of cheating thousands of clients out of at least 848 billion rupiah (US$60 million), a steep fall from grace for Hasibuan who had become a household name in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country.
In 2016 Hasibuan’s collection was shown at New York Fashion Week where all her runway models wore hijab headscarves and Muslim-inspired designs, a first for the prestigious event.
Hasibuan and her husband Andika Surachman established Jakarta-based First Travel in 2009 to operate trips to Saudi Arabia.
