Burnside alleged loan fraud quartet await decision on no case claim
A home-buyer, accountant, property developer and loan agent’s ‘no case’ claim of their alleged involvement in an elaborate $850,000 fraud remains in limbo.
East, Inner Suburbs & Hills
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Fraud charges hanging over the heads of a quartet of men alleged to have played a role in falsely altered documents continue, weeks after they told a court they believed there was no case to answer.
The Adelaide Magistrates Court on Thursday heard the four men, who were charged over an allegedly dodgy $850,00 home loan application, would be submitting 20 pages of documents stating their case.
Vince Roman Sorrenti, 35, and his partner lodged a loan application to buy a Burnside home with the Commonwealth Bank in April last year.
Charges against his partner, Stiliani Natalie Hagicostas, 31, have since been dropped.
In July, the court heard Mr Sorrenti allegedly sought the assistance of accountant David Bruno Demasi, 53, property developer Antonio Guiseppe Luvera, 52, and loan agent Kristan Lewis Esposito, 41, to secure a fraudulent $850,000 loan.
On Thursday, a police prosecutor told Chief Magistrate Mary-Louise Hribal further evidence would be provided in the case.
He said that evidence would be in the form of further communications between members of the quartet.
He said a forensic accountant had already completed an examination of the evidence.
Mr Luvera is facing one count of dishonestly dealing with documents while the remaining three face two counts of the same charge.
In August, the court heard Mr Luvera and Mr Demasi would argue they had no case to answer.
Previously, a police prosecutor told the court phone and email intercepts had led to the charges being laid.
Those intercepts led to the finding, police say, of an allegedly altered pay slip of Ms Hagicostas claiming she had an annual salary of $125,000 as an employee of West Central boxing gym.
The court heard telephone intercepts between Mr Sorrenti, Mr Esposito and accountant Mr Demasi were involved in discussions about needing to produce the pay slip in order to satisfy the loan requirements of the bank.
The allegedly fraudulent pay slip, the court heard, was then provided by Mr Demasi as part of the loan application.
Then, a prosecutor told the court, a contract of sale was signed and allegedly backdated to fall outside of a 12-month loan approval window the bank had for properties.
The men will next face court in November.
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