---
title: "Alleged 'Hollywood Con Queen' loses fight against extradition from UK to US"
description: "An Indonesian national dubbed the \"Hollywood Con Queen\" by the media for allegedly impersonating top female movie industry executives in a seven-year fraud on Tuesday lost his bid to block his extradition from Britain to stand trial in the U.S."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "Reuters"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/reuters/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-07-29-alleged-hollywood-con-queen-loses-fight-against-extradition-from-uk-to-us/"
published: "2025-07-29T13:24:55"
updated: "2025-07-29T13:24:56"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 210
---

# Alleged 'Hollywood Con Queen' loses fight against extradition from UK to US

> An Indonesian national dubbed the "Hollywood Con Queen" by the media for allegedly impersonating top female movie industry executives in a seven-year fraud on Tuesday lost his bid to block his extradition from Britain to stand trial in the U.S.

By Reuters · Published 29 July 2025, 15:24 SAST · Updated 29 July 2025, 15:24 SAST

## Key points
- Hargobind Tahilramani, the alleged mastermind behind a $1 million Hollywood scam that lured unsuspecting victims to Indonesia for phantom film roles, now finds himself in a gripping legal drama as he battles extradition to the U.S. while claiming that prison life would be a horror show for his mental health and sexuality.
- Hargobind Tahilramani faces extradition to California for wire fraud and identity theft, allegedly defrauding 300 victims of $1 million from 2013 to 2020.
- The 45-year-old was arrested in Manchester in November 2020 after luring victims to Indonesia for fake film opportunities.
- His appeal against extradition cited human rights concerns, claiming prison conditions would jeopardize his mental health and safety as a gay man.
- The High Court dismissed his appeal, affirming the lower court's decision to extradite him for trial.

## Content

Hargobind Tahilramani is wanted in California on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for allegedly defrauding around 300 people out of a total of approximately $1 million between 2013 and 2020.

The 45-year-old is accused of tricking people into travelling to Indonesia and paying exorbitant fees for non-existent film work, before he was arrested in a hotel in Manchester, England, in November 2020.

Tahilramani's extradition was approved by a judge and then British ministers in 2023, but he challenged the decision to send him to the U.S. to stand trial, arguing prison conditions would breach his human rights due to his mental health.

His lawyer Edward Fitzgerald told London's High Court in April that Tahilramani, who has applied for asylum in Britain, was also at risk of being attacked in prison as a gay man.

Fitzgerald said this meant Tahilramani was likely to be held in isolation while in pre-trial detention, which put him at high risk of suicide given his underlying mental health issues.

But Tahilramani's appeal was dismissed by Judge Derek Sweeting, who said in a written ruling that the lower court was not wrong when it ordered his extradition to stand trial.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by Giles Elgood)