An ‘internationally-renowned’ personal shopper and stylist has been charged with a £277,000 fraud after allegedly promising clients she would invest their money in Gucci bags.
Milda Chellingsworth, 43, was due to appear at Bromley Magistrates’ Court on Monday, charged with three counts of fraud between 2019 and 2023.
Lithuanian-born Chellingsworth, of Sundridge in Kent, is the company director of SFY Styling Concierge Ltd and SFY Styling Ltd.
She reportedly charges £150 per hour to consult holidaymakers on appropriate suitcase packing and £680 per day to be a personal gift shopper.
She did not appear in court after her attendance conflicted with another case at Bromley County Court, and her case was adjourned.
Chellingsworth is charged with a £52,000 fraud between June 10, 2019 and May 31, 2021, after being accused of dishonestly making false representations to Trevor Coop that she would invest his money into expensive Gucci handbags in return for thousands of pounds in profit.
She is also charged with a similar £78,400 fraud between April 1 and May 31, 2021.
She is accused of dishonestly making false representation to Patricia Navarro that she would invest his money into expensive Gucci handbags for profit.
Chellingsworth also faces a third charge of fraud totalling £146,861.63 between May 1 and August 31, 2023 by abusing her position as the retained agent of Mandy Gray.
She is accused of dishonestly making false representations when retaining money in two bank accounts of Styling For You, spending that money for her personal use instead of benefiting her client’s business.
On Monday, her lawyer Frazer Bradshaw told the magistrates: ‘She has a substantive matter at Bromley County Court this morning. It is a substantive hearing at the County Court all morning.
‘Her daughter is unwell as well and she needs to go home to assist her.’
Bench Chairman Richard Hay questioned which court should have taken priority, regarding Chellingsworth’s attendance and reluctantly adjourned the case.
