Jonathan Kern article

[TJ]

You may remember the segment on a con man named Jonathan Nigel-Philip Kern, who was impersonating a British former Formula One race car driver, Jonathan Palmer. Victim Elizabeth Grzeszczyk has just published an article in the December issue of Marie Claire magazine regarding Kern

[TJ]

http://allafrica.com/stories/200301120092.html

Kern Son Wanted in US for Impersonating Racing Driver

Mzilikazi Wa Afrika
Johannesburg

THE eldest son of Cape Town multimillionaire Cyril Kern is a con artist wanted on criminal charges in the US.

Jonathan Nigel-Philip Kern, 48, is wanted by the Milford, Connecticut, police department for forgery, impersonation and larceny.

He has for many years made a career out of impersonating Jonathan Palmer, a former British Formula One racing driver.

In 1988, he crisscrossed Europe racking up unpaid bills at elegant restaurants and five-star hotels and on designer clothes, all in Palmer's name.

In June 2001, Kern, who is thought to be in Europe, was one of the imposters included in a Sports Illustrated article entitled "Hall of Fakes".

In addition, he allegedly conned an American woman, Elizabeth Grzeszczyk, out of close to R1-million after she fell madly in love with him.

Grzeszczyk - whose story is still being shown in reruns of the TV series Unsolved Mysteries - said she chose to go public with her case as she hoped to recoup her losses by landing a book or movie deal.

She claims she first met Kern in November 1994 while dining alone at an outdoor café in South Beach, Miami, where he introduced himself as Jonathan Palmer. When she said there was a racing driver by that name, he said: "That's me."

"Over the next few days I was impressed with this man's seemingly glamorous lifestyle," she said.

"People fawned over him when we dined in the chic restaurant at the Century Hotel, where he was staying. He was frequently on the phone making 'business calls', often speaking in fluent Italian and French."

She added that a local dealership had provided Kern with a $78 000 Jaguar for his personal use.

Kern also allegedly conned a New Jersey car dealership into giving him a 120 000 Mercedes-Benz to use while he was in the US.

Grzeszczyk said that on another occasion, Kern gave her a cheque to deposit

into her banking account. The cheque was drawn on an Italian Bank for about $7 700.

"When the cheque cleared, I handed over $2 500 in cash to Jonathan . . . to cover expenses I had incurred on his behalf. I learned a couple of weeks later that he had made daily withdrawals of about $250 using my ATM card."

A month after meeting Kern, Grzeszczyk returned home from work to find that he had cleared out all his belongings and that both the Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar were gone. She claims his promises to repay her the money she had loaned him never materialised.

Grzeszczyk checked the calls Kern had made from her telephone and found he was not Jonathan Palmer the racing driver.

A year after she first met Kern, her bank informed her that a cheque he had given her was not honoured. Grzeszczyk was slapped with a demand for almost R70 000 - which she did not have. She was forced to declare bankruptcy.

Kern was then charged with criminal impersonation, forgery and larceny, Grzeszczyk said.

Six years ago she was contacted by the producers of Unsolved Mysteries, who were interested in running a piece on Kern. Months later she appeared on the show, along with the real Palmer.

She discovered in 1998 that Kern had been tried and sentenced in absentia to two years in prison on similar charges in Paris. He was later arrested while trying to enter France from England and appealed against his sentence.

Grzeszczyk travelled to France and told the court that there were three felony warrants for Kern's arrest in Connecticut. Kern lost the appeal and had to serve his sentence.

Cyril Kern, meanwhile, said on Friday: "My son and I are estranged and have not spoken to each other for many years. When someone is 48 years old, there is very little one can do to control them."

[Alannah]

Thank you for this article. I have the Jonathan Palmer segment on tape and admire how this woman can get on national TV and explain how she was so betrayed and deceived.

[dks64]

A little off topic to the case, but does anyone know a way to find out the name of the actress who played Elizabeth Grzeszczyk in the segment? I swear I've seen her on something else.

[dks64]

I just rewatched the segment and am angry that the bank cleared the check, then a year later decided it wasn't good. The bank should have just taken the loss and not gone after Beth. It was their error.

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Hello,

So there I was… walking on the treadmill a few minutes ago with PlutoTV UM episodes going in the background. They started the Jonathan Kern fraud case. You know, the one where he impersonated F1 racer Jonathan Palmer and swindled ladies out of money?

The segment ends with no update and I’m curious to see if he ever got caught. So I take to Google.

There I find this article: https://www.courant.com/2025/03/27/a...ears-of-grief/

Jonathan Kern died a few weeks back without ever being extradited to the U.S. to stand trial in the theft case involving Elizabeth, the victim in the segment.

I didn’t see it posted, so I thought it might be of some interest to some of you. Infuriating. He was in France and avoided extradition for thirty freaking years.

[terrytowel]

His victim Elizabeth Grzeszczyk Ballard has spent years warning people about Jonathan Kern, and amazingly these two have been constant contact for 30 years! More so from him contacing her, than the other way around, the last contact being March of 2025. She has issued a statement on her Facebook Page

Jonathan Kern, the British man who conned me and countless others over the course of his life died last week in Lunay, France. For over thirty years, I have tried to warn others and prevent them from also being conned. Sometimes I was successful, other times people found out too late. Knowing that Kern can no longer cause harm brings a sense of closure, allowing me to conclude this chapter of my life.

[tvscript124]

Originally Posted by terrytowel

His victim Elizabeth Grzeszczyk Ballard has spent years warning people about Jonathan Kern, and amazingly these two have been constant contact for 30 years! More so from him contacing her, than the other way around, the last contact being March of 2025. She has issued a statement on her Facebook Page

Jonathan Kern, the British man who conned me and countless others over the course of his life died last week in Lunay, France. For over thirty years, I have tried to warn others and prevent them from also being conned. Sometimes I was successful, other times people found out too late. Knowing that Kern can no longer cause harm brings a sense of closure, allowing me to conclude this chapter of my life.

I hope she finds peace...

The guy also impersonated Mick Jagger. That takes some nerve (and lip injections.)

[Labonte18]

What is the deal with our extradition treaty with France? Same thing with Roman Polanski.. I think I heard somewhere the reasons that he was not extradited, but.. I don't recall what it is.

A number of countries will refuse to extradite if their citizen is to face the death penalty.. But.. Neither of these cases had that in play.

[Dude111]

Originally Posted by dks64

I just rewatched the segment and am angry that the bank cleared the check, then a year later decided it wasn't good. The bank should have just taken the loss and not gone after Beth. It was their error.

Yes well alot of times people will not admit THEY MADE AN ERROR...

[EGrzeszczykBallard]

Originally Posted by Alannah

Thank you for this article. I have the Jonathan Palmer segment on tape and admire how this woman can get on national TV and explain how she was so betrayed and deceived.

Thank you so much for your kind sentiments. I went public with my story to try and prevent others from being conned by Jonathan Kern. This exposure certainly put a damper on Kern being able to impersonate Jonathan Palmer. Unfortunately, Kern had other ruses to con/betray people.

[EGrzeszczykBallard]

Originally Posted by dks64

I just rewatched the segment and am angry that the bank cleared the check, then a year later decided it wasn't good. The bank should have just taken the loss and not gone after Beth. It was their error.

I am the Elizabeth Grzeszczyk in the segment. The bank even admitted to me they didn't know if returning the check after 49 weeks was legal but they were doing it anyway. They seized the $2,200 I had in my checking account and demanded the rest of the funds ($5,500) to cover the amount of the entire check. I filed for bankruptcy. The bank was eventually reimbursed the remaining $5,500 by their insurance company claiming that it was beyond a reasonable amount of time to return the check. (It was actually Shawmut Bank, the intermediary band who returned the check.)

[EGrzeszczykBallard]

Originally Posted by dks64

I just rewatched the segment and am angry that the bank cleared the check, then a year later decided it wasn't good. The bank should have just taken the loss and not gone after Beth. It was their error.

I am the Elizabeth Grzeszczyk in the segment. Thank you so much for your kind post. The bank even admitted to me they didn't know if returning the check after 49 weeks was legal but they were doing it anyway. They seized the $2,200 I had in my checking account and demanded the rest of the funds ($5,500) to cover the amount of the entire check. I filed for bankruptcy. The bank was eventually reimbursed the remaining $5,500 by their insurance company claiming that it was beyond a reasonable amount of time to return the check. (It was actually Shawmut Bank, the intermediary band who returned the check.)

[EGrzeszczykBallard]

Originally Posted by Labonte18

What is the deal with our extradition treaty with France? Same thing with Roman Polanski.. I think I heard somewhere the reasons that he was not extradited, but.. I don't recall what it is.

A number of countries will refuse to extradite if their citizen is to face the death penalty.. But.. Neither of these cases had that in play.

I am the Elizabeth Grzeszczyk in the segment. The reason the state of Connecticut didn't extradite Kern from France was that it would have cost around $50,000 to do so. I totally understand their not wanting to pay this much. I didn't expect them to either. The reason I filed the charges against Kern was to keep him from returning to the U.S. and conning other Americans. He was aware of these charges and knew if he was apprehended in the U.S. he would have been returned to Connecticut to face the charges.

[EGrzeszczykBallard]

Originally Posted by dks64

A little off topic to the case, but does anyone know a way to find out the name of the actress who played Elizabeth Grzeszczyk in the segment? I swear I've seen her on something else.

I too tried to find the name of the actress who portrayed me. I tried a reverse image search with a photo I have of her, but unfortunately didn't get any hits. I do swear I saw her in a commercial with a baby years ago.