The HOLLYWOOD CON QUEEN

For years she tormented studio executives, actors, photographers and make-up artists, until her victims closed ranks and unravelled her mighty scam. K.J. Yossman reports on the Con Queen of Hollywood and her star-studded web of deceit

- K.J. Yossman

It was a warm, overcast afternoon in August 2019, and Joe Scarnici was pumped. A talented photographer who’s gone on tour with Madonna, covered the red carpet at the Academy Awards and worked on campaigns for Pepsi, Scarnici had just wrapped up a phone call with a new potential client about a big photo shoot. He grabbed some lunch and headed to his office/ garage in San Juan Capistrano, California, to sketch out lighting ideas. Suddenly, the phone rang again, this time from a UK number. The caller, who had a British accent, introduced himself as Albert, an assistant to Christina Ong, a Singaporean entrepreneur nicknamed the “Queen of Bond Street” after London’s most luxurious shopping district, where she owns a number of designer stores.

Ong was looking to hire a photographer to shoot a handful of Indonesian athletes she was sponsoring in the lead-up to the Olympics, Albert explained. If Scarnici was interested, she would call him directly to tell him more. Sure, he said, and 15 minutes later – just enough time for him to run a quick Google search on the reclusive billionaire – Scarnici’s phone lit up again.

“My first impression was ‘Wow, why is this person reaching out to me?’” he recalls. “Because the richest woman in Singapore calling me in my garage just seemed a little fantastic.” Ong, who said she had been passed Scarnici’s details by Martha Stewart’s assistant (Scarnici shot Stewart for a cookbook launch in 2016), was quick to put the photographer at ease, telling him he’d been highly recommended.