Stephanie Scolaro, 26, arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London last month
An ‘utterly self-centred’ heiress was today ordered to do community service after smuggling baseball caps and a bag made of endangered python skin into Britain before selling them.
Stephanie Scolaro, 26, sold snakeskin baseball caps and bags via her website ‘SS Python’ as well as her Instagram account, which has 85,000 followers.
The swimwear model daughter of an Italian mining tycoon father and a British mother also sold some of the £450 baseball caps with a boutique in Mayfair.
Scolaro, who lives in a luxury flat in Marylebone, ordered the baseball caps and a travel bag from Indonesia, some of which she then sold in the UK to her network of wealthy customers.
But today she was sentenced to community service at Southwark Crown Court, having admitted two counts of importing goods with the intent to evade a prohibition, two counts of keeping for sale a species acquired unlawfully and one count of selling a species unlawfully imported between 2016 and 2017.
Judge Michael Gledhill QC slammed her lifestyle that is ‘all about me’ and told her that the approach to dealing with her apparent mental health issues was to just ‘throw more money at the problem and she’ll be alright, but it is not alright’.
Swimwear model Scolaro sold snakeskin baseball caps and bags via her website ‘SS Python’
The judge said: ‘This is a young woman who, for all sorts of different reasons, is utterly self-centred – her entire life is utterly centred around herself.
‘One of the reasons is over that the years, all her life, she has been given exactly what she likes. Focusing the spotlight on herself, ‘it’s all about me’, there is no thought for anybody else.’
He told her of the cruelty pythons suffer, adding: ‘How they are skinned alive, how they are endangered – that doesn’t cross her mind, it does not concern her.
‘All she is concerned about is getting hold of some accessories that she can sell.
Scolaro is the daughter of an Italian mining tycoon father and a British mother
‘I hope you have done some research that makes you think, ‘what on earth was I doing even contemplating importing endangered species.’
‘It is pretty obvious to anybody with any intelligence that exotic animals are likely to be endangered and their trade regulated.
‘You are a young woman with very few barriers – indeed, ‘what I want I get,’ seems to be your motto and the way you approach your life. I take a very dim view of this offence and you know why.’
The judge said that a recently completed psychiatric report suggested that Scolaro suffers from various mental illnesses.
Scolaro also sold some of the £450 snakeskin baseball caps with a boutique in Mayfair
He added: ‘Nobody seems to have realised that your difficulties were out of the ordinary and needed addressing.
‘You need guidance’: Judge’s full comments
Michael Gledhill QC
Judge Michael Gledhill QC said of Stephanie Scolaro:
‘I take the view that this is a young woman who, for all sorts of different reasons, is utterly self-centred – her entire life is utterly centred around herself. One of the reasons is over that the years, all her life, she has been given exactly what she likes. Focusing the spotlight on herself, “it’s all about me,” there is no thought for anybody else.’
‘How they (pythons) are skinned alive, how they are endangered – that doesn’t cross her mind, it does not concern her. All she is concerned about is getting hold of some accessories that she can sell.
‘I hope you have done some research that makes you think, “what on earth was I doing even contemplating importing endangered species.” It is pretty obvious to anybody with any intelligence that exotic animals are likely to be endangered and their trade regulated.
‘You are a young woman with very few barriers – indeed, “what I want I get,” seems to be your motto and the way you approach your life. I take a very dim view of this offence and you know why.’
‘Nobody seems to have realised that your difficulties were out of the ordinary and needed addressing. It seems to me that the approach has been to throw more money at the problem and she’ll be alright, but it is not alright. You are completely adrift and you need guidance.’
‘It seems to me that the approach has been to throw more money at the problem and she’ll be alright, but it is not alright. You are completely adrift and you need guidance.’
Defence counsel Adam Davis QC said: ‘This has possibly been the most salutary period in her life.’
On social media, Scolaro shares pictures of high-end designer clothes and supercars for her 80,000 followers to admire.
Her sister Lana starred in the Channel 4 reality TV show Rich Kids Of Instagram after flaunting their jet-set lifestyles on social media.
In total, police seized 35 hats as well as a number of large bag made of the illicit hides, which she was selling for £2,800 each.
Previously, prosecutor Gregor Mckinley said: ‘The case is about the importation and selling and offering for sale of articles made from genuine python skin.
‘Ms Scolaro herself has a very active engagement with social media and in particular with an Instagram channel which she operates and manages.
‘She has been described in some quarters as being influential in terms of fashion, in particular with young people.
‘The goods in question are a kind of baseball hat, in different colours, made from python skin.
‘Also advertised on the website and seized as consignments were bags, both large holdalls and smaller bags.’
The prosecutor told how police began investigating the model after a package sent from Indonesia was stopped as it was sent via Europe.’
A consignment of these goods comprising of ten of these caps, one large bag and one smaller bag, were stopped by German customs officials at Leipzig Airport.’
‘The large bags, which were intercepted, were advertised on her website at £2,800 each
Mr Mckinley told the court that German customs alerted British authorities and forwarded the DHL parcel on to the UK.
‘It was with the forwarding company DHL and at the same time police were making enquiries as to the ultimate destination, Ms Scolaro was making enquiries with DHL as to why it had not arrived.
‘Police began looking at Ms Scolaro’s Instagram account and at the associated website,’ added the prosecutor.
Mr Mckinley told how the defendant had sold one of the caps to Rogue Menswear in Bexleyheath for £185 but suggested a retail price of £350.
Scolaro swears at photographers as she leaves Southwark Crown Court In London last month
‘Again, very similarly there were five of these caps on sale at a shop called Park Lane Collections. Three of the caps were on sale for £450 and two of them for £300.’
Customs officials seized another shipment of eight caps and another large bag made of illegal skins was stopped at Heathrow Airport on March 8, 2017, ‘again, very simply addressed to the defendant and that was seized directly by customs.’
Scolaro was interviewed by police on the same day and gave a no comment interview.
‘Following the interview with police, the investigating officer was forwarded two documents which purported to be export licenses covering the importation of some of these goods from Indonesia,’ the prosecutor continued.
Scolaro and her family regularly fly by private plane to homes in Monaco, Ibiza and New York
‘Both of these documents have been checked and both are forgeries.
‘All of the investigation has been by the police from the website and the Instagram account and without any cooperation from the defendant in finding these articles or where they had been placed on sale,’ explained Mr Mckinley.
‘There are some 35 of these baseball caps and if we take the retail value as was suggested by the defendant herself of about £350, the value of these hats come to £12,215.
‘The large bags, which were intercepted, were advertised on her website at £2,800 each. Looking at the large bags and the hats together, that comes to £17,815.’
She was interviewed by police after a shipment was seized and gave a no comment interview
Scolaro advertised the goods on her website ‘SS Python’ and sold snakeskin accessories from Rogue Menswear in Bexleyheath and Park Lane Collections in Mayfair between December 2015 and February 2017.
She is also charged with keeping specimens of python leather at her luxury home in Marylebone on March 8, 2017.
Scolaro has more than 85,000 followers on Instagram, where she posts images of herself in exotic locations across the globe.
Scolaro – known as Stephy – and Lana attended Mill Hill School in North London, where boarding fees are £33,717 a year, and regularly fly by private plane to family homes in Monaco, Ibiza and New York.
Scolaro posts images of herself in exotic locations across the globe on her Instagram account
Lana, who designs diamond jewellery, once claimed she spent £15,000 a month on clothes and shoes.
Stephanie told The Mail on Sunday’s You magazine in 2016: ‘I think the first time I was really aware that we were rich was in my early teens.
‘We were taking a private jet to Monaco and eating sushi from Nobu and something told me that regular kids didn’t do that.’
She said she planned to launch a brand of caviar ‘because there’s, like, a real demand, you know?’.