TV Personality Amira Smajic Sentenced to Prison and Massive Fine in Fraud Case

Amira Smajic, a 38-year-old business lawyer known from the Danish TV program "The Black Swan," has been sentenced to prison and a substantial fine in a fraud and tax evasion case. The court in Odense handed down a sentence of two years and two months, though only two months are to be served.

In addition to the prison term, Smajic was ordered to pay a supplementary fine of 7.6 million kroner. The charges stemmed from her involvement in submitting, or attempting to submit, false salary claims and fictitious employment documents to the Employee Guarantee Fund in several bankruptcy cases. These documents aimed to create the impression that individuals were employed by bankrupt companies and thus entitled to wages and severance pay.

While some of these fraudulent claims resulted in payouts from the fund, many other attempts were stopped before any money was disbursed. Smajic confessed to the charges during the trial, which was treated as a confession case, typically resulting in a reduced sentence. The exact reduction was not specified in the police press release.

She also admitted to extensive tax and VAT fraud, which cost the state over 7.1 million kroner in taxes and nearly half a million kroner in VAT. The sentence is a combined one, taking into account previous legal matters. Special prosecutor Annette Korsgaard described the case as serious economic crime, emphasizing the abuse of a fund meant to help employees of bankrupt companies and the significant societal losses from the tax and VAT evasion.