Nelson Counne scammed Kristie $5,000 and a 12 months of her life together with his web of lies after they met in 2000.
He lied about being a Vietnam hero, an art dealer, and having cancer.
But she managed to get justice when he was sentenced to a 12 months in prison – and Kristie built a recent life and located a loving marriage.
Now, she speaks out as Counne, 69, is back behind bars awaiting trial on charges of extorting $1.8 million from five other women after she was called “the worst boy on the Upper East Side.”
“I feel he should spend his whole life in prison,” said Kristie, who asked that her full name be withheld. “He rapes women, depriving them of their money, of their dignity.”
Kristie was 49 when she met Counne in August 2000 on the Campagnola Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side.
She was recovering from a “quite painful breakup” and was immediately intrigued by the “handsome” man.
![Nelson Counne romance scammer indicted over new allegations](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000008212558-edited.jpg)
The hypnotized stranger said he was an art dealer who was coming to Latest York from Hastings, England to complete a deal that “wasn’t entirely legal” but would make him immense wealth, recalls Kristie, now 71.
“Disarmingly charming.” He took the gold ring from his finger and placed it on her finger. The couple in love kept the atmosphere in the piano bar dancing and staring longingly at one another.
A couple of days later, Kristie and Counne went out again, this time to JG Melon’s for burgers.
He kissed her goodnight after they parted ways at her apartment – only to call Kristie back moments later to say she had no access to his friend’s apartment.
Kristie let Counne upstairs to make the decision while he insisted his friend promise to send a limo for the keys.
But that rumor – and almost every subsequent story – was “a whole lie,” Kristie said, admitting that her persuasive friend had spent the night.
![Kristie and Nelson Counne](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000008572612.jpg?w=778)
“I used to be very interested in him, he was very charming at first,” she told The Post. “It drew me in instantly.”
Counne fabricated almost every aspect of his life, from dangling investment opportunities to the lie that he was awarded a Purple Heart for his service in Vietnam.
“He was a fully sweet talker,” Kristie said. “Then he got here up with such an investment plan that if I give him some money, he can provide me back ten times as much, because he has a one that allows him to invest. And he wanted I earn a living.”
Kristie gave Counne $1,000, however the promised payment never got here.
Then the “tempting” storyteller offered a diamond ring, which he forbade her to wear until it could be insured.
“So I took the diamond ring to a jeweler near me to see if it was real,” she said. “And it wasn’t.”
![Nelson Counne, romance cheater](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Nelson-Counne-03.jpg?w=1024)
Counne “exploded” when she confronted him, however the couple stayed together. He invited her to include him to Europe for Christmas.
But then he recanted, claiming he had colon cancer, he was at Latest York-Presbyterian Hospital but didn’t want to be seen.
When she tried to visit him, staff told her he “never registered.” Counne claimed he wasn’t listed on a personal floor.
“There was all the time an excuse. It’s amazing what he conjured up just like the feds were after him,” Kristie said. “But for me, I used to be ready in my life to let go, just to let go of my life, and he painted this fantasy of a life we could lead on together. I just wanted to explore and go to Europe and have all the cash he told me we’d have.”
Even then, he pressured her for money, extorting a complete of $5,000 from her despite flashing red flags.
![Kristie, the victim of a romance scam](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000008572575.jpg?w=1024)
The next spring, Kristie realized she had lost a $2,000 diamond ring and immediately became suspicious of Counne, who denied having taken it.
Then she got a call from one other woman, Elaine, who was also seeing Counne and who had lost her necklace.
The 2 connected and began digging in the lothario, eventually meeting a 3rd woman in Philadelphia who was also scammed.
Kristie only met with him to collect evidence from Elaine’s cellular phone bills. “We were detectives and we found clues,” Kristie said. “We were determined to put this guy in jail.”
The last straw was the soulless lie of 9/11. Counne claimed to have witnessed the towers fall from his supposed recent site in Battery Park.
But Kristie and Elaine knew that wasn’t true.
They reported the stolen jewelry to the police, leading to Counne’s conviction in the autumn of 2001 on two counts of grand larceny. He was sentenced to a 12 months in prison, served eight months.
Kristie left Counne behind and in 2008 married the “beautiful and loving” Chuck she met online.
![Nelson Counne in court](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000008212582.jpg?w=1024)
But Counne didn’t move on. In actual fact, The Latest Yorker revealed last April, he was still doing exactly what Kristie had done.
In 2018, he introduced himself as “Nelson Roth” during a web based meeting with a lady from the Upper East Side, using the identical ruse of an art dealer with multiple homes around the globe and a luxury apartment on East 63rd Street.
The girl exposed Counne as a fraud with the assistance of her daughter and a personal investigator.
He actually lived on East 82nd Street, had three grand larceny convictions, most recently in 2007, and was acquitted of murdering a jewellery dealer in 1987.
Counne was arrested earlier this month and is now accused of stealing greater than $1.8 million from five women in 2012. He didn’t post bail of $150,000.
Prosecutors say he has been living off fraud since 2015.
Using aliases reminiscent of Nelson and Justin Roth, Counne met women online, scamming them for money, lying that he was a retired art dealer with homes in Manhattan, London and the south of France, prosecutors said.
In actual fact, prosecutors say, Counne has never even left the country and each cent in his accounts comes from ill-gotten gains.
His lawyer, Danielle Von Lehman, called the allegations “false” while blaming the alleged victims.
![Nelson Counne, romantic trickster](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Nelson-Counne-02.jpg?w=1024)
“These women all seem to be mature, sophisticated individuals who have bonded with Mr Counne at various times and have never been forced to do anything they didn’t select to do of their very own free will,” Von Lehman told The Post.
“Women are perfectly capable of making decisions,” Von Lehman said. “These women had dreams, they saw gold, they made decisions, Mr. Counne had dreams, he planned and he failed.”
In 2022, romance scams nationwide totaled $1.3 billion with a mean loss of $4,400, Federal Trade Commission revealed in February.
Kristie plans to attend Counne’s trial and writes a screenplay about her ordeal. “I feel it’s totally empowering for ladies to hear my story,” she said. “And to know they are not alone, that it happens on a regular basis.”
Regarding her former lover: “I knew who he was after I put him in prison. That is who he’s; he’s a serial cheater.”