Edgar Davids Fraud Case Delayed Again Due to Thief's Injury
Nearly five years after charges were first brought, the long‑running fraud case involving former Netherlands international Edgar Davids and his missing modern art collection has been delayed yet again — this time with a story about an airport injury and a hospital drip.
Nabila Habiby, 39, who has admitted defrauding Davids out of his £188,000 collection, failed to appear at Wood Green Crown Court in north London on Friday for her long‑awaited sentencing.
Her barrister, Hannah Thomas, told the court that Habiby, who now lives in Belgium, claimed she had been struck on the head by a piece of luggage on her way to the airport, lost consciousness, and was taken to hospital.
“She had a concussion, since she passed out, and was taken to the hospital where she remains on a drip,” Thomas said.
Judge Emma Deacon was unimpressed by the paperwork supplied to justify the absence, describing the medical evidence from Belgium as “inadequate”. Even so, she agreed to adjourn the hearing so that the original judge who took the guilty pleas could finally pass sentence.
Habiby pleaded guilty in September 2025 to two counts of fraud after pawning 37 paintings and works of art belonging to Davids. She secured £31,500 in loans from pawnbrokers using the pieces as collateral, despite having been entrusted by the former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder to place his possessions in storage during a house move.
Davids had handed Habiby, a wealth manager, the keys to his home in Hadley Wood, Hertfordshire, in December 2014 while relocating to an apartment in central London. Instead of storing the collection, which included works by artists Paul Insect and Ron English bought from the Opera Gallery in New York between 2006 and 2012, she took them to pawn shops.
The fraud only came to light after Habiby defaulted on the loans. The pawnbrokers sold the art on to collectors around the world, and one buyer later contacted Davids to ask about the painting’s history. That enquiry exposed the scam.
Some of the works have since been traced and recovered. Twenty‑five pieces are still missing.
Habiby was warned when she admitted the offences that she could face up to 34 months in prison, but has yet to be sentenced. A first attempt in March collapsed when she tried, unsuccessfully, to withdraw her guilty pleas.
The case dates back to fraud offences committed in 2015 and 2016 and investigated by London’s Metropolitan Police. With the legal process still dragging on, the court has now ordered Habiby to appear for sentencing on 23 September and to provide a full medical report explaining her latest no‑show.
After years of delays, the next hearing will decide whether this saga finally reaches its conclusion — or drags Davids’ missing art story into yet another season.
