TV & Movies

Where Is Hargobind Tahilramani After Hollywood Con Queen?

A new Apple TV+ series revisits a scam that wreaked havoc on the entertainment industry.

by Grace Wehniainen
'Hollywood Con Queen': Where Is Hargobind Tahilramani Today?
Louise Zergaeng Pomeroy/The Hollywood Reporter.

Apple TV+ docuseries Hollywood Con Queen follows a costly scam that impacted the entertainment industry from the inside out.

Based on Scott Johnson’s original reporting and subsequent book, the three-part series begins with stories of actors, photographers, and other freelancers who thought they’d been hired by powerful women in Hollywood — such as Amy Pascal and Kathleen Kennedy — only to learn that they’d been communicating with an impersonator, after spending thousands on work travel and other expenses.

Ultimately, the docuseries points to an Indonesian man as the alleged perpetrator of the elaborate scheme. So, where is Hargobind Tahilramani (aka Harvey) today?

Who Is The “Hollywood Con Queen”?

After multiple people came forward with stories of lost savings and disturbing requests made by the so-called “Hollywood Con Queen,” a private investigation homed in on Tahilramani as the alleged impersonator.

Once Johnson made contact with Tahilramani in Manchester, England, the men began to communicate at length. Tahilramani welcomed the chance to speak to Johnson and filmmaker Chris Smith, so that he might get his side of the story out.

Tahilramani described a difficult childhood, and finding solace in films. He pointed to women like Pascal and Kennedy as people he’d looked up to.

Apple TV+

“There’s no way to know completely what somebody is thinking, but from the conversations that we had, it felt like [the Con Queen] might have held similar dreams to the victims that he was targeting,” Smith speculated in an interview with Primetimer.

In late 2020, Tahilramani stopped reaching out to Johnson because he’d been arrested in England, after “the culmination of an extended, multi-jurisdictional investigation lasting more than a year,” Johnson wrote in the Reporter.

A 2023 Update

The latest update in Tahilramani’s case came in 2023, when a U.K. judge ruled that he could be extradited to the United States to face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, according to Variety.

Apple TV+

The outlet also said Tahilramani planned to appeal, adding that he reportedly “indicated he would go on hunger strike” if forced to go to the States. According to the new Apple TV+ doc, he is still fighting extradition from abroad.

What Made This Con Unique

Smith previously worked on popular documentaries like Tiger King and Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened, but even he acknowledged that Hollywood Con Queen was “radically unique” from the pack.

“It spiraled in so many different directions,” he told Primetimer of the elaborate scam. According to a note at the end of the doc, it impacted at least 500 victims with an estimated toll of $2 million. “It feels resolved, yet there's still so many questions.”