2023-08-22 18:44:20
Illegal immigrant to Canada, fake professional soccer player and outstanding manipulator: Idrissa Dacosta admitted Tuesday having defrauded a real estate company and stolen two vehicles from people who trusted him.
The 29-year-old man is doing well for defrauding these people of about $30,000.
Judge Sébastien Proulx agreed, somewhat reluctantly, to the common suggestion of 160 days of imprisonment proposed by Me Benoit Labrecque in defense and the Crown, in this unusual case.
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“The parties made me a suggestion at the limit of reasonableness,” said the magistrate, condemning the fraudster to his sentence, which only has four days left in detention because of the time served since his arrest.
fake professional soccer player
The name of Idrissa Dacosta probably means nothing to many, but soccer fans and more particularly of CF Montreal will perhaps know the other name used on occasion by the man, Formose Sy Dacosta.
Rumors about this “player” had circulated on the web a few years ago. These statements linked a “young Senegalese international” to the Montreal club, before being quickly contradicted by the research of Internet users with a keen flair.
However, these rumors made it possible to cement the fraud set up in Quebec by Dacosta. The latter, who does play soccer, but not at the level he suggested, offered his services to a semi-professional training in Beauport and contacted a real estate firm to rent an apartment. He said he wanted to settle in Quebec after having notably evolved in Italy, even presenting a false contract indicating that “he earned several hundred thousand euros”.
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“For the company, Mr. was therefore a real person and his story was credible,” explained the Crown prosecutor, Me Catherine Bernard.
Dacosta signs a lease and occupies the apartment, but will never pay the rent. In fact, the only payment received by the Gestipro company out of the $14,000 due was paid by a coach from the Quebec club, who wanted to help Dacosta integrate his training.
Volvo enthusiast
As for the two car thefts, the same modus operandi was implemented by Dacosta. Each time, he befriended a woman, before convincing her to help him take possession of a car, Volvo SUVs in both cases.
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In the first file, the woman went to a dealership with the man and agreed to put a car in her name, for Dacosta, the latter having to pay the related costs.
The second woman was already the owner of the vehicle. She allowed Dacosta to use the car, again in exchange for paying the fee.
In both cases, the fraudster never fulfilled his obligations, the second victim even finding his damaged vehicle in a garage in Quebec.
“We are talking about planning, sophistication. We’re going to enlist the victims in a project. He’s a manipulator, ”dropped Judge Proulx during Tuesday’s hearing.
False papers
Idrissa Dacosta was arrested on May 11, 2023 at the wheel of one of these vehicles, without a license plate.
He then presented himself under another identity. The police, however, informed him that the name of the man on the driver’s license he gave them was subject to two arrest warrants. Dacosta then changed his mind and identified himself as Andy. He earned himself a charge of impersonation and false identity for this clumsy scheme.
While searching the vehicle, officers also found a Canadian passport belonging to another individual, which added a seventh charge. The Crown believes that it was this passport that allowed Dacosta to enter Canada illegally.
The Canada Border Services Agency is also seized of the case, and a removal order should be activated against the 29-year-old French national after his release from prison. He also agreed to repay just over $7,000 of the $30,000 defrauded.
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