Evelyn Dawn Knight (born 5 November 1942) is an English woman known for her involvement in the

Abscam Abscam (sometimes written ABSCAM) was an FBI sting operation in the late 1970s and early 1980s that led to the convictions of seven members of the United States Congress, among others, for bribery and corruption. The two-year investigation init ...

sting operation of the 1970s, with her ex-husband

Mel Weinberg Melvin Weinberg (December 4, 1924 – May 30, 2018) was an American con artist, charlatan and federal government informant who is known for his involvement in a sting operation in the late 1970s and early 1980s known as Abscam. At the time of th ...

. A character inspired by her was portrayed on film by

Amy Adams Amy Lou Adams (born August 20, 1974) is an American actress. Known for both her comedic and dramatic roles, she has been featured three times in annual rankings of the world's highest-paid actresses. She has received various accolades, incl ...

in '' American Hustle'' (2013) for which Adams was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Actress The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year ...

. The story of Abscam was depicted as well in the 1981 book ''The Sting Man'' by Robert Greene.

Personal life

Knight was born in

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

, England, the daughter of Peggy ( née Wilson) and Bob Knight. Her father was a postman. Knight emigrated to the United States in 1967, when she was in her late twenties. At a party on Long Island sponsored by the British government, she met

, a Jewish businessman 17 years her senior, and the two began a long love affair. Weinberg was married to his second wife, Marie, at the time. Marie died by suicide in 1982 at age 58. She had confronted Knight about the affair after she learned that Knight was living nearby in a house being paid for by Weinberg. Soon after Marie's death, Knight and Weinberg married.

Abscam

Weinberg began involving Evelyn in his

cons In computer programming, ( or ) is a fundamental function in most dialects of the Lisp programming language. ''constructs'' memory objects which hold two values or pointers to two values. These objects are referred to as (cons) cells, conses, ...

, using her as a ploy to conduct business. He would introduce her as Lady Evelyn Knight, one of the world's richest women. The two were arrested in 1977 on charges of fraud and conspiracy. They made a plea deal with the FBI to help them in the investigation of

, and in return, their charges would be dropped for probation.

Later life

Knight kept out of the spotlight once the Abscam era ended, and moved to Florida with her husband Mel. They divorced in 1998, but still lived near each other until his death in 2018. Knight found work at

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

, where she took care of animals used in space experiments.

Portrayals in the media

Amy Adams was cast as a character based on Knight for the 2013 American

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discu ...

- crime film '' American Hustle'', written and directed by

David O. Russell David Owen Russell (born August 20, 1958) is an American filmmaker. His early directing career includes the comedy films ''Spanking the Monkey'' (1994), '' Flirting with Disaster'' (1996), ''Three Kings'' (1999), and ''I Heart Huckabees'' (200 ...

. The film was nominated for 10

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

, including

Best Picture This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

. Adams was nominated for

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

for her performance. The script for the film made changes from Knight’s story, including portraying the character as an American named Sydney Prosser who pretended to be

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

as a way to conduct scams. In the film, the character Prosser gave her British alter-ego the name of Edith Greensly.Oscars 2014: American Hustle
accessed March 21, 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Evelyn 1942 births Living people People from Watford Abscam Federal Bureau of Investigation informants English fraudsters English socialites American confidence tricksters English emigrants to the United States