DAMJI IN DISTRESS

PRINT EDITION CONTENTS past issues

PAST GALLERIES

Ex-socialite, ex-art dealer, ex-cokehead, ex-con and ex-magazine editor-publisher, Farah Damji has written a memoir. Michael Gross considers her half-confession, half-plea for understanding ...

Special to MORE INTELLIGENT LIFE

Memoirs typically promise of a tale of transformation and redemption. At the end of hers, 40-something Farah Damji, expat Indian-Ugandan, ex-socialite, ex-art dealer, ex-cokehead, ex-con and ex-magazine editor-publisher, hasn’t changed; she’s still as dangerous a woman as she was half a life ago. Then, though, she was mostly dangerous to herself (and also to two fairly respectable married Englishmen ). Now, she’s proved she is also dangerous to most of those she met before.

Her book, "Try Me", should really be called "Take No Prisoners". That’s a bit unfair. In her telling, Damji did have several stalwarts, such as her solicitor, Imran Khan. But precious few emerge unscathed from this riveting story of how a troubled child became a Chanel-clad, sex-bomb, socialite con-woman and then a somewhat contrite mother and promising writer.

Calling her an ex-con is accurate, yet this hardly describes her short but full life in petty but persistent crime. As most literate Brits with a taste for low gossip know—and as I found out as I read what seems like a half-confession, half-plea for understanding—Farah managed to get herself into a hell of a lot of trouble, and some tabloid headlines, too. She has been imprisoned in both America and Britain for stealing or perverting the course of justice; she has cosied up to mafia bosses and neglected her children. But she has pulled herself out of her self-made pickle, picked up a pen and tried to make sense of it all. The story of this world-class drama queen makes for highly dramatic reading.

Damji’s family are not among her favourites. An Indian raised in Kampala, Uganda, where her grandparents settled to help supervise the building of African railways, Farah was raised in relative privilege, she tells us. But that did not protect her from the exigencies of either family strife or geo-politics. Kassam Damji, her grandfather, was an advisor to the Milton Obote government. Amir Damji, her father, became a wealthy businessman. But in the growing unrest before Idi Amin took over the country in a 1971 coup, Farah, then three, was kidnapped, and their African idyll ended. Shortly after she was released, unharmed but not unscarred, her family fled for England.

“The Mother country, which had reluctantly taken us in, had yet to bear the weight of dependency which would come with the prodigal foreign progeny,” Damji writes, "the offspring of ill-conceived flirtations in far-flung places when we came clamouring to the Sovereign Nation in our hour of need.” But hers is no mere immigrant’s complaint. Many of her problems came to England with her.

Try Me Farah Damji “My father was away a lot,” Damji begins her third chapter. “When he was at home, he wasn’t there.” He was inside a bottle of scotch, too remote to protect Damji when a cousin from Nairobi began to regularly sexually abuse her. Her sex life, like her sense of identity, would ever-after be fraught. A statutory rape at a school dance followed. Her mother heard about it from a schoolmate’s parents. Damji had been wearing a skirt of her mother’s when it happened. “I saw her look over her skirt carefully,” the author recalls. “Her skirt wasn’t bloody; surely it would have been if anything like that had transpired…That was when, in my world, she started to die.”

The years that followed were spent looking for love and finding chaos, albeit of the sort that is soaked in champagne, clad in expensive finery and decorated by divine degenerates, darling. "Try Me" switches to high gear when Damji arrives in Manhattan and soon finds herself walking its razor’s edge, running a string of high-class hookers while ignoring her studies at New York University. She hung out at high-life haunts, from uptown’s La Goulue to downtown’s Milk Bar, and was soon whiling away her evenings with the likes of Margaux Hemingway, Peter Beard and Bianca Jagger. She recounts a string of lovers too numerous for anyone without a scorecard to keep track of.

But no matter how high or drunk she was, no matter how many friends she betrayed or credit cards she stole, Damji never spun free of her mortal coil. Apparently she was keeping track, keeping score, maybe even taking notes. In the engrossing mess she made of her life it took her years to find herself—but she did.

As "Try Me" ends, Damji has returned to her two children and is facing the daunting challenge of recreation. “My life had become a lot smaller,” she writes in her last lines, “my needs a lot simpler. But it was my life…Another half a life to live.”

"Try Me", by Farah Damji, The Ark Press

(Michael Gross is a New York-based journalist and the author, most recently, of "Rogues’ Gallery: The Secret History of the Moguls and the Money That Made the Metropolitan Museum".)

Article tools

Comments

Farah Damji

July 16, 2009 - 07:25 — Jessica (not verified)

Damji was up in Blackfriars Crown Court again yesterday on a new batch of 23 counts of fraud. She pleaded guilty. Seems a leopard doesn't change its spots.

I'd be careful about any

July 17, 2009 - 10:28 — Alexander Ware (not verified)

I'd be careful about any dealings you have with Farah Damji, including buying her book. Do not let her have your home address, credit card number or any other personal information, not even your date of birth. She is still involved in current fraud cases and yet another stint in prison looks likely for her.

Farah Haters

July 18, 2009 - 02:39 — Anna Cohen (not verified)

These comments are left by Alexander Lentjes, who is an ex-landlord and ex-lover of Farah Damji and loves to make trouble wherever he goes / she is reviewed. As her publisher, I love it because it all sells more books, so in spite of attempts to shut down / stonewall interest in her book, he is in fact helping sales.
However, what he is doing amounts to cyber-bullying and we have reported him to the Met Police's cybercrime unit. According to him, she was meant to have gone to prison last Wednesday, which is slightly odd considering she is still very much free and enjoying the success of her book.

If you have been subject to harassment by Alexander Lentjes,or been party to any defamatory correspondence about Farah Damji, please contact the solicitor who is dealing with Farah's case

Imran Khan
Imran Khan and Partners
47 Theobalds Road
London WC1X 8SN
or info@ikandp.co.uk

Enjoy the book, ignore the haters, we certainly are and it is getting easier and easier to block him out as people see that he is obsessed by her and a crazy stalker.

Farah Damji, Try Me

July 18, 2009 - 09:04 — Visitor (not verified)

Alexander Lentjes is a boring old fool. The Ark Press is my company, I launched it to great success at Guy Hilton Gallery. I am not Farah, I look nothing like Farah. PMM group have mnothing at all to do with the book. Farah has not pleaded guilty to 23 counts of fraud, this is more hyperventilation and excess on the part of this spurned old fool.
Oh yes, there is the liuttle matter of a current court case concerning Alexander Lentjes and Farah Damji, in which HE is the defendant
Central London County Court in Park Crescent
The Case Number is 8CL06143
Their number is 020 7917 5000
You will see he is being sued by HER and these attempts to try and deviate from the truth about him and the case are all in vain.

Farah's Ongoing Criminal Activity

July 18, 2009 - 12:59 — Visitor (not verified)

I decided to look into this and called Blackfriars Crown Court. The court manager there confirmed that Farah Damji has pleaded guilty to 19 counts of fraud and was found guilty of an additional 5 counts meaning that she has indeed been convicted recently on 23 counts of fraud. I actually talked to two different people at the court just to make sure. There is indeed no doubt. Farah Damji HAS recently been convicted on 23 counts of fraud. She will be sentenced for her crimes later this year.

Damji's criminal history speaks for itself...

July 18, 2009 - 15:11 — Alexei James (not verified)

Anna Cohen is one of Farah Damji's aliases. She exists only inside Farah's head.

Damji in fact pleaded guilty to the 23 new counts of fraud. She appeared at Blackfriars Crown Court and the sentencing hearing was adjourned.

In addition, there are other pending charges against Damji, for further acts of fraud committed while on police bail.

She is currently on Conditional Bail and the conditions of her bail mean that she has to sign in at her local police station every day, she is not allowed to leave the UK, she also has a curfew and is not allowed outside of her home between the hours of 11pm and 7am. She is also not allowed to contact or harrass in any way the many, many prosecution witnesses.

Anyone who wants clarification of any of this can simply telephone Blackfriars Crown Court on 020 7922 5800, giving Damji's case number of T20087654. Speak to the Court Manager or the Listings Manager there and they will confirm for you the various latest crimes Damji has been convicted for.

If Damji has scammed you, failed to pay you money she owes you or otherwise offended against you, please call Hammersmith Police Station who are already investigating her and have already charged her with various crimes.

Please also note that her book, Try Me, is also a scam. The Ark Press is not a real publishing house and the book is actually self-published. The printers are called The PMM Group. However they are refusing to print the book because Damji owes them so much money and the unpaid bills are stacking up. The poor manager at PMM has already received calls from Nielsen Bookscan and from various journalists. The police are also keen to get to the bottom of this latest scam.

By all means order a copy of Damji's book, but only if you wish to experience first-hand what it is like to be scammed.

Farah Damji lives on welfare benefits and is still a criminal

July 25, 2009 - 06:23 — Visitor (not verified)

An article about a few of her latest crimes

http://squaremilenews.blogspot.com/2009/07/self-promoting-socialites-170...

Farah Damji needs medical help

July 26, 2009 - 07:42 — David (not verified)

Farah Damji is still wanted by the police in South Africa for fraud she has committed there. She has also officially been made a bankrupt in South Africa and in the UK. Her children live with her parents in South Africa but Damji cannot return to SA because, if she does, she will be arrested and imprisoned for three years. You will see that there is a pattern here of Damji blaming fictitious ex-boyfriends for her crimes, never taking responsibility herself. The link below details some of her criminal antics in South Africa. I include an excerpt here.

"It is common cause that on the 8th of August 2000 the first respondent was charged with, and convicted of, nine counts of fraud in the Magistrates Court for the district of Cape Town. On each of the nine counts she was sentenced to a fine or six months imprisonment and, in addition, a further six months imprisonment was suspended for five years on certain conditions, inter alia, “that accused leave South Africa on or before the 31st of October 2000 and does not return.

"The respondent makes the allegation that to the knowledge of the applicants she neither resided, nor was domiciled within the area of jurisdiction of this court on the date that the application was launched. She said she was on the verge of departing from South Africa in order to return to the United Kingdom pursuant to the said sentence. She had applied for, and received, an extension, until the end of November 2000, of the date set by the magistrate for her departure. She stated that in terms of the aforesaid sentence she was obliged to depart and was not permitted to return. She therefore did not have the intention, after her departure, of ever returning to South Africa. Mr Hitchcock submitted that because the first respondent was on the verge of departure from South Africa, she was no longer residing here for the purposes of jurisdiction. He argued that she was only temporarily present within the jurisdiction of the court. Mr Mouton contended that although she intended to depart from South Africa permanently, she had not yet done so and consequently she still resided here.

"The relevant sections of first respondent’s plea statement with regard to this count read as follows:-

“I wish to come clean and plead guilty to all the charges...

I admit that during November 1999 at Offshore Trading Sea Point I presented to ABSA Sea Point a cheque in the amount of R11 725.00, knowing that I was only entitled to an amount of R1 725.00. I put the one (1) in front of the 1 725.00 and as such committed fraud.

In her opposing affidavit in the instant case, the first respondent admits the charge, conviction and sentence as well as her plea and plea statement. However, she alleges the following:-

“46.2 ..... it is necessary to place the aforesaid allegations in context as it cannot be viewed in a vacuum. By 8 August 2000 I had been embroiled in litigation and negotiation of more than one year with the Director for Public Prosecutions and the Department of Home Affairs. I had also been embroiled in constant conflict with Terblanche. I was involved in a host of civil actions and was involved in numerous disputes with Genesis Consulting. Furthermore I was embroiled in civil actions with an ex-boyfriend."

http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAWCHC/2001/3.html

She needs to stop acting like a spoilt princess....

July 27, 2009 - 17:35 — Zahra (not verified)

Farah Damji suffers from a spoilt princess syndrome if there is such a thing.

Here is a woman who had the right privileges and connections to make something of her life and be of help to others who are less fortunate in society. Instead, she has this "poor me" syndrome and blaming everyone else for her own stupidity and arrogance.

She needs to grow up and take responsibility for her actions. She is not 20 anymore. She is in her 40's and has two kids she needs to be responsible for.

She has this "poor me"syndrome where she wants to blames everyone else for her callus actions and is not afraid to ruin people's reputation if he enhances her own.

So far she has been lucky. However, one day, she might mess with the WRONG person and that person my not think of her as Poor Farah Damji.

Her actions speak for herself that is nothing but a spoilt princess. I feel sorry for her family or anyone who has come in contact with her.

Farah's photo hurts my eyes

July 28, 2009 - 00:14 — Visitor (not verified)

If not imprisoned again for fraud she needs to be imprisoned for being very unattractive

http://comments.thisislondon.co.uk/london/threadnonInd.jsp?forum=117&thr...

Self-published flop

July 30, 2009 - 02:32 — Visitor (not verified)

Amazon.co.uk have so far sold a grand total of 48 copies of Damji's book. They have two more copies in stock, if you're interested in getting one.

£40,000 a year in government benefits.

July 30, 2009 - 12:15 — Max (not verified)

Damji gets £750 a week Housing Benefit from Westminster Borough Council to pay the rent on her flat in London SW1. I wonder how much of that money she is actually paying to the landlord.

Damji the Fantasist

July 31, 2009 - 12:25 — Peter Cairncross (not verified)

In her ridiculous book, which this reviewer seems wrongly to assume is a work of non-fiction, Damji tries to present herself as a glamorous lawbreaker, seducer and sexy anti-hero. The reality of her life is very, very different: she is a mentally unstable and financially bankrupt benefit cheat, who having fled the law in the US and South Africa, now lives in subsidised state housing in London, madly writing reviews of her own self-published book and conducting interviews with herself via various aliases-- Anna Cohen, Suzanne Abrahams, Madam Arcati etc etc. It is all complete fantasy, and it is hardly very intelligent of intelligent life to be taken in by it. For more information on her imminent conviction for benefit fraud, see Sunny Hundal's series of exposes on the Asians in Media website.

Damji is in prison once again

August 6, 2009 - 20:00 — Visitor (not verified)

Farah Damji is back in prison as of 3rd August 2009.

Damji behind bars in HMP Holloway

August 9, 2009 - 10:20 — Peter Caircross (not verified)

Damji has been rearrested, and is now behind bars again where she belongs. It appears the charges are seperate to the existing 23 counts to which she pleaded guilty:
http://www.asiansinmedia.org/2009/07/31/farah-damji-faces-jail-for-new-o...

Here is her own self-pitying account of her current predicament which blames everyone but herself for her arrest and imprisonment. Like everything she writes, there is no reason to assume that it is anything but fiction, but it does at least prove she is back behind bars in HMP Holloway, and the world is a safer nicer place for it:
http://moksalondon.blogspot.com/

Here is just one example why

May 26, 2010 - 18:30 — Visitor (not verified)

Here is just one example why you cannot believe Farah Damji...

According to Damji, she was arrested for the suspected murder of a New York Mafia acqaintance (Larry Gertz) just after she turned 25. That would have been in autumn 1991.

She said that the murder was featured strongly in the New York newspapers because the Police were feeding information to the press. But there is no mention of any Larry Gertz in any New York Times news story since 1948!

Damji also writes...

"...The murder took place in broad daylight, in mid-town Manhattan. The police had found a carving knife at the scene but it had been wiped clean. There were no traces of DNA or fingerprints. This was a professional, ordered, contract hit. Rudolph Giuliani had recently taken the helm at the Mayors office. New York had dumped Ed Koch, the old, flamboyant homosexual. Ruddy was the new chairman of the city, with about as much charm as a cold pizza..."

The thing is, Rudolph Giuliani was not elected mayor of New York until 1st January, 1994 - so could not have been mayor at the time of the murder if Damji says she had just turned 25!

Ed Koch was not Mayor either - he left office on 31 December, 1989!

If her supposed arrest for murder took place when Damji was 25 then the Mayor of New York at the time was David Dinkins; he was the first African American to hold the office of Mayor of New York (1 January 1990 - 31 December 1993). Given that Damji was born in Africa, you think she would remember that rather large detail!