A British conman who travelled the world posing as a Formula One racing driver to swindle his love interests out of cash has died after 30 years avoiding justice.
Jonathan Kern died aged 71 in Lunay, France, last month after suffering a stroke and a heart attack.
His death was confirmed by one of his victims, Elizabeth Ballard, who met Kern in Miami in 1994 where he posed as former Williams F1 driver Jonathan Palmer.
Kern was still wanted by US authorities who had a warrant out for his arrest.
Ms Ballard, now aged 69, posted on Facebook group Conned but Not Conquered to say she now had closure as she announced his death.
‘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.’
Conman Jonathan Kern (pictured right in 1994 with one of his victims Elizabeth Ballard) died aged 71 in Lunay, France, last month after suffering a stroke and a heart attack
Ms Ballard, now aged 69, posted on Facebook group Conned but Not Conquered saying to say she now had closure as she announced his death
Ms Ballard first met Kern in the US when he was on a business trip.
She was dining alone at an outdoor café in South Beach when Kern arrived in a forest green Jaguar and introduced himself.
He wooed her with a British accent, designer clothes, and promised her ski trips to the Alps, and about three weeks moved into her home in Milford, Connecticut.
When she questioned why he wanted to settle down with her – and not date a supermodel – she claims he said he was ‘tired’ of his jet setting lifestyle.
But during their six-week whirlwind romance Kern drained Ballard’s bank accounts of $250 a day without her knowledge and emptied her savings account.
Kern convinced Ballard to rent a mobile phone and used it to make calls under false pretenses.
‘He told me he was staying in the US for me,’ she said. ‘He didn’t have personal credit cards because he wasn’t planning to stay long, so I let him use mine.’
And after he’d got his hands on $15,000, he upped and left without a trace – leaving Ms Ballard heartbroken and broke.
‘I remember coming home one day and everything was gone – his cars, his suitcases,’ said the retired clinical monitor from Chapin, South Carolina.
‘I called him, and he just laughed it off.’
Ms Ballard pictured here in 1997 in Paris, France, on the day she testified against Kern in court
After checking her phone bill, she discovered calls to unfamiliar numbers. One led her to Kern’s supposed cousin in Los Angeles; another connected her to his mother in England.
‘She told me, “Jonathan’s ruined my life too”,’ she recalled.
‘I couldn’t afford rent or even my car payments. I had to borrow money from my aunt just to get by.’
On top of that, an $8,000 cheque Kern had given her from an Italian bank bounced nearly a year later, leaving her responsible for the amount.
She was forced to file for bankruptcy on her 40th birthday.
Determined to uncover the truth, Ms Ballard began piecing together Kern’s real identity.
A call to the real Jonathan Palmer’s office confirmed what she feared.
Kern had been impersonating the famed race car driver across Europe and the US, defrauding victims with similar schemes.
Ms Ballard worked with US Federal Marshals to identify Kern using evidence like photos of him with his sports car.
They revealed his true identity – a career conman with an extensive history of fraud.
Aside from Palmer, Kern also impersonated music icons like Mick Jagger and Kid Rock over the years, according to reports.
While she filed charges in Milford, Connecticut – including felony larceny, second-degree forgery, and criminal impersonation – Kern fled the jurisdiction before authorities could apprehend him.
Ms Ballard worked with US Federal Marshals to identify Kern using evidence like photos of him with his sports car
Despite an active warrant for his arrest in the US, Kern avoided prosecution abroad, where extradition challenges complicated efforts to bring him to justice.
Authorities issued warrants for his arrest in multiple jurisdictions as he grew increasingly known for impersonating Palmer.
Ms Ballard’s case gained national attention when it was featured on Unsolved Mysteries in 1996, where Kern was referred to as a ‘Sweetheart Swindler’ before the label took off in association with his name.
Ms Ballard was then contacted by other victims, she says.
Determined to get justice, she wrote a self-published book about the ordeal, I Fell in Love with a Con Man, and she spread the word about Kern in Facebook group Conned but Not Conquered.
In 1998 she testified against him in a Paris court case involving another woman he had conned, helping lead him to conviction and jail time.
Reports claim he was sentenced to three years in jail, serving 17 months.
But Kern managed to avoid significant jail time due to jurisdictional challenges, as many of his crimes occurred across multiple states and countries.
‘It took me ten years to get back on my feet,’ Ms Ballard admitted. ‘My self-confidence was gone.’
Despite rebuilding her career and life, she continued to hear from other victims over the years.
‘I wanted to forget about it,’ she said. ‘But every time I tried to move on, someone else would reach out with their story.’
Ballard heard he had died on March 12 in Lunay, France, after suffering strokes and a heart attack.
She found out from one of her friends on Facebook.
Ms Ballard (centre) pictured in 1996 flanked by the actress and actor who portrayed her and Kern in the ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ segment
According to local paper Hartford Courant, Detective Marilisa Anania of the Milford Police Department – which still had an active warrant – wrote in an email to Ms Ballard this week: ‘I am sorry we were unable to ever serve the warrant, but your dedication to your case has helped many others in similar situations.’
Now, after Kern’s death, Ms Ballard feels a sense of closure after decades of hearing his name, and his death marked the end of a decades-long ordeal.
Reflecting on her experience, Ms Ballard said she ‘wanted to be a good example’ for her son, noting, ‘If something like this ever happened to him, I wanted him to hold his head high.’
She added: ‘I’m feeling tremendous relief that this journey is over.’
The allegations were put to Kern a number of times over the years, according to reports.
The New Haven Register reached out to him in 2018, through his UK company, and he wrote back: ‘I think Ms Grzeszczyk really needs to get a life. Her accusations are exaggerated and fictitious and my family, colleagues and I are fed up to the back teeth of this attention seeker.’
The newspaper says he posted a video of himself on YouTube which broadly describes his exploits around the globe, ‘pretending to be a famous rock star or racing driver’, they said.
Other reports mention a Guardian interview he gave from jail, when he admitted he blagged a car from Lotus, took it to the Belgian Grand Prix and then said it had been stolen.
‘I ended up paying a very heavy price for what had started out as nothing more than a bit of fun,’ he reportedly said.
