Azura In October of 2018,
a tech expert named Jason flew to Hong Kong from New York on a business trip. He checked
into the Four Seasons hotel in Central, where Hong Kong’s financial district is located. That day a
lunch appointment was canceled so he went for an afternoon drink at the hotel’s Pool Bar.
And that’s when he met Azura. Jason remembers her talking with the waitstaff,
who responded to her as if she lived at the 4 seasons. She sat down at the table next to him
and they made eye contact. This was exactly what Jason needed since he just got out of a divorce.
She introduced herself and she chatted with Jason about life. She told him she had grown up between
London, Paris and Bali. Their conversation went so well, she picked up their lunch that day. She
put it on her account, and casually told Jason she owned 10% of that particular Four Seasons.
They exchanged phone numbers because Jason was hooked. He had business throughout Asia that week
and he and Azura flirted back and forth on the phone. And instead of flying back to New York,
he changed his flight back to Hong Kong to meet back up with Azura.
And so a week after their first encounter, Azura treated Jason to her favorite restaurants around
Hong Kong. She invited him to her high rise apartment to one of the most expensive areas
of Hong Kong. Jason quote “was blown away” as he stepped into her place. There were art deco
paintings, buddha statues, oversized day beds, ornate flower arrangements and a baby grand piano.
She showed him photographs of her feet in designer shoes, resting on the seat
of the inside of a private jet. Her phone had selfies taken at
places such as Paris Fashion Week, Italian beaches, and rooftop pools in Manhattan.
Then there was a picture of her with a Rolls-Royce parked alongside a private jet.
Jason didn’t question whether the car belonged to her. This whirlwind romance
was what he was looking for after his recent separation. And it wasn’t long before Azura
asked Jason for a big favor after getting him to fall in love with her after a few months.
She asked him to transfer some of his assets to her name. All in the ruse of wanting to protect
him from his soon-to-be ex-wife. Azura claimed that she would use the assets to buy property
in Bali and diamonds, all in Jason’s name. She played it up on her end saying that she
needed him to do it. That’s because she didn’t want her family to think poorly of her that
she was just dating some random guy. She told him that if he loved her, he’d do it.
Indonesian Princess This is just one example of the lies
supposed Azura Luna Mangunhardjono, or simply just Azura, would tell to dig her hooks
into someone. There’s almost no actual evidence of who Azura really is since she’s fabricated
so many different stories about her past. It goes without saying that being a good
looking woman played a big part in her ability to swindle money from her victims. But it was
undoubtedly her wit and charm that allowed her to make a living off of it.
She would mingle at upscale parties and events as she hunted and seduced her sugar daddies.
Sometimes she’d begin by telling a dramatic story of her royal tragedy by saying that her parents
died when she was just 11 years old. She’d also sometimes casually mention that she’s a Princess
from Indonesia. Her parents supposedly were international humanitarians that owned 10 percent
of the four seasons hotels chain. That meant she had an allowance of $150,000 dollars a month,
because she had a $30 million dollar trust fund. Dubious Background
Besides the rather big lie of being royalty, Azura has also claimed that she was one of the
most gifted children in the world. She was also a concert pianist with a psychology graduate
from Dartmouth. And oh yeah, she also studied engineering at MIT. And when she’s not in Hong
Kong doing her charity work, she’s staying in London where her or her family owns a
fifteen bedroom mansion in London, complete with a Rolls Royce and a driver on deck.
And of course, she also owns a winery in Switzerland worth 22 million dollars. That
definitely helps with the cash flow needed for her lifestyle in Hong Kong. At least
that’s what her friends would think in their heads. Azura would also claim that her mom was
THE lawyer who helped get Bill Clinton elected President back in the day.
What IS true was that she was married to a Canadian named Brad Kirk, who was General
Manager of the Bali Hyatt from 1997 to 2003. Kirk first brought Azura to Hong Kong in 2003,
when he relocated there for work. Their marriage ended sometime around 2010. And these days,
Kirk refuses to discuss his past with her, other than that he’s moved on from her.
Lux Life It was easy
for Azura to pass these claims off as truth. Not only did she dress the part with designer clothes,
handbags and jewelry, but she also traveled everywhere in luxury cars and private jets,
something she’d post all over her Instagram. One of her victims was a man named Robert. He said
that her lies were amazing because of how deep the stories were. Such as the fact that she said she
wasn’t on google because she was so rich. Azura was enamored by Hong Kong’s wealthy
high society and she obviously showed that she wanted to be associated with that section of
society. She loved mingling with the rich and famous. She had a series of rich boyfriends
and persuaded them to spend money on her, often claiming she needed the money for her family.
Charitable Donations Of course it takes real money
to live the lifestyle Azura did. So where did the real money come from? The reality was that Azura
isn’t rich of course. She just had access to money. And the money came from the rich people
she was associating with all around her. One thing that she got really good at was getting people
to donate to different charities by selling art. Since she was supposedly an Indonesian princess,
Azura was able to pass off Indonesian artworks that were most likely fake. She’d sell off art
and say that the money was for a specific charity. She also allegedly borrowed a painting from a
friend for a special event and never returned it. Azura’s rich friends and boy toy’s didn’t realize
that the “charities” they were donating to was actually the Azura princess fund. For example,
Robert himself donated roughly 30 thousand dollars to Azura himself for her “charity”.
He also gave her his American Express black card to use, and she took advantage of that access by
making exorbitant purchases in luxury stores. Mixing with the wealthiest of the wealthy meant
that she not only scammed men but rich women too. One woman named Diane was another person caught in
Azura’s web of lies. Azura had borrowed a painting from Diane for a special occasion. But she never
returned it, as Azura most likely sold it. Diane also paid for a lot of their dinners out.
Credit cards were accidentally left at home when it was time to settle the bills. She said quote,
“If you met her, you’d fall in love with her”. She described Azura as extremely charming and
charismatic. And that makes sense. Otherwise, how would Azura do what she does for over 15 years?
Supposed Life What are some other
examples on the list of Azura’s web of lies? We’re going to go through some of them here.
Because she’s a princess, she only flies by private jet. She claimed that was born in Germany
and never lived in Indonesia, except in Bali when she was with her ex-husband we mentioned earlier.
She supposedly grew up in Africa, Europe, Egypt, and India. That’s because her dad
worked with refugees all over the world. Her family is among the ten wealthiest in Indonesia.
But for some reason, she also told some people her parents died when she was 11. They were
international humanitarians, killed in East Timor while shielding her from getting shot.
Then she’d tell her sugar daddies that she came from a poor family of farmers. She would come
up with a story that her dad needed expensive surgeries, and that’s why she needed the money.
She’d also sometimes made claims that her dad needed money to pay off a girlfriend
that’s trying to extort him. Sometimes, her dad just died too. In 2017, she asked Robert,
whom we mentioned earlier, for $150,000 dollars to cover her dad’s funeral costs.
Then of course there was the wine collection worth 22 million dollars that nobody could check out
because it’s stored in Switzerland. House of Cards
Of course it was inevitable that Azura’s house of cards would eventually come tumbling down. Someone
can only pretend to be an anonymous engineering, psychology and musical prodigy for so long.
There was no record of her ever attending MIT or Dartmouth or
anything really to support any of her many lies. Does she even know how to play the piano?
Eventually Azura’s sugar daddies would catch on to her game and
just come to the conclusion that she was a pathological liar. And
that’s when and she would drop them and she moved on to her next victim.
She was able to keep this game up for years as she moved from one wealthy group of friends
to the next. And it wasn’t only rich people she scammed. She also scammed people at the bottom.
Domestic Helper In Hong Kong, it’s
very typical for rich families to have helpers that come from Indonesia. Think of them as a
live-in nanny but with much more responsibilities than just taking care of kids. They essentially
are responsible for doing all the errands a household may have, plus keeping the house clean.
Azura’s personal domestic helper of 8 years filed a report against her in 2019. She claimed that
Azura owed her $76,000 thousand hong kong dollars, or roughly ninety-eight hundred US dollars.
So what did Azura say when that was made public? Her helper stole from her. That’s
why she didn’t pay her. Skipping Rent
Azura rented a luxury apartment on Robinson Road in Hong Kong. Wellfine Properties, the
developer of the apartment claimed that she owed them around $460,000 Hong Kong dollars or roughly
$60,000 thousand US dollars in back rent and fees. They later got a court order in 2019 to remove
her belongings from the apartment. Azura insists to her friends that her belongings were stolen,
and that she sent the landlord a check. “Hermes” Bags
In November 2018, a Beverly Hills socialite complained to police that she had paid Azura
$86,000 thousand dollars for Hermes bags that were for charity. But the bags turned out to be fakes.
So in November of 2018, West Hollywood Police arrested Azura at a private bungalow at the
Beverly Hills Hotel for selling items under false pretences. She was released the same day after
intervention by two lawyers. Azura Today
For now, Azura’s whereabouts are unknown. Despite accumulating debt that’s in the millions for
unpaid goods and services worldwide, Azura has managed to stay off the Hong Kong police’s radar.
Ever since someone made a website of her calling her out as a scammer, she’s
disappeared. Will she ever actually be caught? Or will she just reinvent herself as another person
somewhere else? We’re going to bet on the latter. Here’s what’s next!