Fake Saudi princess-model countersues American Express

November 25, 2004

NEW YORK (AP) It's not my fault. I'm mentally ill. That's the argument a woman is using to sue American Express for two (M) million dollars after she ran up nearly one (M) million dollar in charges and couldn't pay the bill. Prosecutors say the woman - 40-year-old Antoinette Millard - posed as a Saudi princess to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. She is now suing America Express saying she was mentally incompetent when she opened her account and the company should have known it. The woman is free on 100-thousand dollars bail and awaiting trial on attempted grand larceny charges. Besides the phony princess the woman is also accused of posing as a Victoria's Secret model, which she was not. Millard's lawsuit says American Express gave her a prestigious Centurion ``Black'' card at a time when she was suffering from anorexia, depression, panic attacks, head tumors and by reason of such illnesses was mentally incompetent. The card is for people who charge more than 150-thousand dollars a year, and carries a 25-hundred dollar annual fee. Her lawsuit says American Express should have known that Millard was acting impulsively and irrationally at the time she accepted the card. She also is charged with grand larceny for allegedly trying to steal 262-thousand dollars from an insurance company by falsely reporting that her jewelry had been stolen. The Manhattan district attorney's office says Millard was arrested in May at her Manhattan home, had in fact sold the jewelry and then tried to collect insurance on it. She is charged with insurance fraud, attempted grand larceny and possession of a forged instrument. Millard faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the insurance fraud charge, the top count.