Woman guilty of impersonating a Guggenheim

A California woman charged in 2011 in a scheme to scam money by impersonating wealthy members of the Guggenheim family pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in federal court in Manhattan Friday.

Catarina Toumei, who had originally been hit with felony fraud conspiracy charges, was sentenced to two years of probation for contempt for violating a 2010 order to stop using the Guggenheim name that was issued in a civil case brought by a family company against her and two co-defendants.

One of her co-defendants, Vladimir Zaravel, of Queens, pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor and was put on probation. Charges against another defendant, David Birnbaum, of Brooklyn, were dismissed, according to the office of Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

Toumei's lawyer said that, despite the original fanfare surrounding the case, the trio seemed mostly to enjoy access to the rich and famous that they got from the Guggenheim label, but never raised any money through their outlandish investment proposals.

"I can't believe anyone ever believed these proposals were real, and no one exchanged any money or even came close to exchanging any money," said lawyer Jan Ronis. "I think it would have best been left as a civil case."