Atlantic Beach man found guilty on 3 counts of grand theft

An Atlantic Beach man has been found guilty on 3 counts of grand theft after he was accused of scamming multiple woman out of thousands of dollars. The state attorney’s office says Friend Rizkkhalil now faces up to 35 years in prison. The state says each count is for each victim of his crimes. The state says Rizkkhalil would pose as someone else and become romantically involved with the woman before scamming them.

The state says between in one incident, Rizkkhalil posed as a Turkish businessman named Murat Karanan when he scammed a victim out of about $8,400 by convincing them to invest in an import-export business that didn't exist. In a different incident, the state says Rizkkhalil posed as that same businessman and used the same scheme to rip off another victim out of about $39,000. The state says in both cases Rizkkhalil made promises of vacations and showered both woman with gifts. The state says he used those relationships to make fraudulent credit card purchases using the victim's credit cards and convinced the other victim to open multiple lines of credit, so he could make personal purchases. The state says those actions by Rizkkhalil bankrupt that victim leaving her with nearly $100,000 in credit card debt.

In a 3rd incident, we told you about last year, the state says Rizkkhalil posed as a person claiming to be a member of the CIA and within a week proposed to another woman. The state says he then convinced her to sell her home and get a condo. The state says when the woman sold her home, Rizkkhalil told her to wire him $50,000 to a bank account held by Rizkkhalil's actual girlfriend Hacer Lee. The state says with in a week the two spent the $50,000.

The state attorney’s office says Rizkkhalil’s was found guilty by a jury and his sentencing hearing is scheduled for the week of November 13th.