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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Dead Date of Reality Star Stirs Fraud Charges

An Instagram model endorsed by Kanye West was arrested Wednesday after the man whose debit account she took for a $20,000 spending spree turned up dead the morning after their date.

MANHATTAN (CN) - An Instagram model endorsed by Kanye West was arrested Wednesday after the man whose debit account she took for a $20,000 spending spree turned up dead the morning after their date.

Though she also starred on the Oxygen network reality series “Bad Girls Club,” Shannade Clermont is best known for pairing up with her identical twin sister, Shannon, as the Clermont Twins. The 24-year-old was arrested in New York today on federal charges that she stole and used the debit card number of a man who was found dead in his apartment on Feb. 1, 2017, from a cocaine and fentanyl overdose — the morning after prosecutors say Clermont visited him for a $400 prostitution date.

Surveillance videos from the lobby of the East 53rd Street apartment building show Clermont arriving at 5:50 pm and leaving three hours later, according to the complaint.

“As alleged, Shannade Clermont, a former cast member of the ‘Bad Girls Club,’ lived up to her reality series reputation,” U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said in a statement. “She allegedly stole debit card information from a man found dead – the victim of a drug overdose – in his Manhattan apartment and used his identity to make tens of thousands of dollars in fraudulent purchases.”

Prosecutors allege that Clermont used the stolen debit card information to pay her rent and phone bills, flight purchases, and several online purchases of thousands of dollars of luxury clothing.

The complaint also says Clermont created a fake email address purporting to be the victim to transfer her $1,000 through Western Union.

Clermont is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; one count of access device fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years; and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory consecutive minimum sentence of two years.

Led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sagar Ravi, the prosecution is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.

Clermont is expected to be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Sarah Netburn in Manhattan.

Earlier this year, the Clermont Twins were part of social-media campaign for Kanye West’s fashion brand Yeezy's Season 6 collection, which featured Paris Hilton alongside an array of other Instagram-famous models styled as “clones” of West’s wife Kim Kardashian.

A press contact for the Clermont Twins has not returned an email seeking comment.

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Categories / Criminal, Entertainment

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