‘Saudi prince’ still reliving his conman days on the TV circuit

QUEENSLAND not only had a fake Tahitian prince but also a fake Saudi prince. And his exploits rivalled those of the conman portrayed in Catch Me If You Can.

Abdelkarim Serhani was a self-styled ‘Saudi prince’.

ROYAL imposter Abdelkarim Serhani loved the VIP lifestyle of free champagne, bikini babes, helicopter rides, limousines and luxury resorts.

Known as the “Fake Arab Prince”, the now 34-year-old con artist scammed Hamilton Island for a $40,000 tab pretending to be Saudi royalty and brazenly went on to write a tell-all book about his exploits.

The French backpacker, with his good looks and white toothy smile, cast himself in the mould of infamous conman Frank Abagnale Jr – played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the film Catch Me if You Can.

Abdelkarim Serhani laps up a luxury resort.

He even taunted Queensland police – who charged him with two counts of fraud and put out an international warrant out for his arrest after he fled overseas – with pictures of him lapping it up in luxury Bali resort.

Still today from his Parisian bolthole he embraces his celebrity status taking to the TV talk show circuit to cash in on his antics in his book L’Imposteur, a rort hatched after watching the Eddie Murphy movie Coming to America.

“I’m the super man – I’m catch me if you can,’’ Serhani told The Courier-Mail while still a fugitive on the run.

As a busted-arse backpacker travelling Australia’s east coast, the pretend prince racked up $40,000 worth of free accommodation, meals, drinks, “girls”, helicopter flights and security guards at Hamilton Island in 2009.

“That’s nothing for that rich island,’’ he said.

Abdelkarim Serhani relaxes in one of many high-class hotels.

Hamilton Island – which has played host to some of the world’s rich and famous such as singer Taylor Swift, TV host Oprah Winfrey and true royalty in Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark – has still not forgotten the fraudster.

“(He) was a guest of privately owned accommodation on the island,’’ a spokeswoman said yesterday.

“We don’t have any comment in relation to his stay.’’

In an earlier media statement, the resort revealed the conman dodged his appearance in a Proserpine court by claiming he had two broken legs.

“While we are disappointed that the authorities in Australia and internationally have not been able to bring Mr Serhani to justice, we would be delighted to think he has seen the error of his ways,’’ the statement said.

“Given his track record however we remain to be convinced of his good intentions which would only be truly realised should he pay his outstanding bills and come good on his promise to direct the sales of his book to the reforming of young offenders.’’

Abdelkarim Serhani led a lavish lifestyle.

Serhani, who adopted various guises as a confidence trickster, is also wanted in Cairns over the theft of two bottles of Dom Perignon.

Authorities said he is also wanted for $400 stolen from a fellow Frenchman in Surabaya along with $2000 and a mobile phone taken from the skipper of a yacht on which the false prince fled Australia from Darwin to Bali.

He also stole a credit card from a Japanese tourist and racked up a huge debt leaving her sweltering in a Queensland jail cell as he skipped the country.

But he came unstuck, according to Belgian newspaper La Capitale, on his return to Europe when he was charged in a Belgium court over a series of frauds committed between 2006 and 2008.

He’d posed as an Arab prince to rent limousines, book rooms in luxury hotels and ordered thousands of euros worth of drinks that he never paid for at VIP nightclubs.

Serhani was also accused of posing as the son of a Lebanese industrialist at a Belgium motor show test driving luxury cars including a Rolls-Royce but escaped a jail term and was instead ordered to perform community service.

Abdelkarim Serhani enjoyed his lavish lifestyle.

He later boasted of his skill as an actor and imposter.

“It’s more than the champagne, girls and status playing. It’s a human story,’’ he is quoted as saying in media reports.

“An imposter – that’s exactly what I am.

“There is only one difference between an actor and an imposter. An actor is playing in the cinema and when the lights come down that’s finished. But an imposter is playing in his real life.

“It’s fantastic to think you can be everybody everywhere. It’s a very interesting skill.’’

In latest news reports out of Belgium this week, the false prince claims to have taken a respectable path by co-authoring a book with a photographer about life on the streets through the eyes of drug addicts.

Queensland police, however, believe the man once dubbed “King Con” has no plans to make amends and is unlikely to be eyeing a return performance anytime soon in Australia’s tropical north.