A personal assistant to Nicky Hilton’s ex-husband was busted for allegedly ripping him off to the tune of $1.6 million after using his elite AmEx card to go on shopping sprees and taking trips to exotic international destinations, The Post has learned.
Renata Shamrakova, 27, conned party-boy entrepreneur Todd Meister and hijacked his identity while employed at his Upper East Side town house on East 62nd Street near Fifth Avenue, law-enforcement sources said.
Meister, 41, famously married Paris Hilton’s younger sister, a childhood pal, at the Vegas Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas in 2004 after they dated for three months. Paris, the maid of honor, was the only family member at the ceremony. The union was annulled a mere six weeks later.
Shamrakova accessed Meister’s banking information and applied for an American Express credit card in his name — then added herself as a secondary user, according to a Manhattan Criminal Court complaint.
In April 2011, Shamrakova embarked on her wild spending spree with his charge card, and had luxury items sent directly to her Chelsea apartment, on 21st Street near Eighth Avenue, the complaint states.
One neighbor noticed that Shamrakova received dozens of packages.
“She orders a lot of stuff online. There are always packages being delivered to her,” the neighbor told The Post.
Police sources said jewelry — including pricey rings, necklaces and bracelets — made up the bulk of the stolen items.
Shamrakova also used the card to buy airline tickets to travel abroad, sources said.
To cover her tracks, the crafty crook paid off the $800,000 credit bill with money from Meister’s JPMorgan checking account by accessing it and transferring the money to American Express, records show.
Meister, a jet-setter and staple of the New York social scene, didn’t notice for 10 months that he had lost bundles of cash.
He notified police of the stolen funds last Saturday, and Shamrakova was busted four days later.
She was charged with grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, identity theft and forgery. She is being held in lieu of $100,000 bond on Rikers Island.
When a Post reporter questioned Meister at his town house, he said, “I can’t comment on this right now because it’s with the authorities.”
Shamrakova’s attorney declined to comment.
Additional reporting by Daniel Prendergast and Jennifer Bain