Helg Sgarbi is a Swiss national who was convicted on March 9, 2009, of defrauding four German women out of millions of euros and attempting to blackmail them. Known as the "Swiss Gigolo" by the press, Sgarbi called himself a "special Swiss representative in crisis zones."BBC: Swiss blackmail 'gigolo' jailed (March 9, 2009)

In 1981, Sgarbi met and romanced the Countess Verena du Pasquier Geubels, who gave him £28 million. She reported him to the police in 2001, but dropped the charges after he returned £25 million. She died in 2003 at 83.BBC: Swiss blackmail 'gigolo' jailed (March 9, 2009) The Scotsman: He may look just like the man next door, but meet the 'Swiss Gigolo' who conned lonely women out of millions (March 10, 2009)

Sgarbi met Susanne Klatten, a married business woman and heir to the BMW fortune, in an Austrian resort in July 2007. They began an affair, and in September of 2007, he asked her to give him €7 million to pay off the mafia family of a girl he had accidentally injured in Florida. She gave him the cash. He then asked her to leave her husband and open a trust fund for him with €290 million. She refused to do either, and Sgarbi then attempted to blackmail her with a secretly recorded tape of her having sex with him in a hotel room. He sent her a CD of photographs and threatened to send them to her husband and the executive board of BMW. Instead, Klatten went to the German police, and Sgarbi was arrested.BBC: Swiss blackmail 'gigolo' jailed (March 9, 2009) Telegraph: Swiss gigolo Helg Sgarbi jailed for blackmailing wealthy women (March 9, 2009)

Three other women were defrauded out of a total of about €2.2 million. None of them would be identified in the court case, but would have needed to testify had the case continued. The case began on March 9, 2009, and was expected to take several months; but after five hours Sgarbi confessed his guilt, and was sentenced to six years. He apologized to the women in court, but refused to say where the nearly €9 million.BBC: Swiss blackmail 'gigolo' jailed (March 9, 2009) Telegraph: Swiss gigolo Helg Sgarbi jailed for blackmailing wealthy women (March 9, 2009)

• Independent: The gigolo, the German heiress, and a £6m revenge for her Nazi legacy (November 3, 2008)