Stiliani Hagicostas, Vince Sorrenti, David Demasi, Antonio Luvera, Kristan Esposito charged with fraudulent bank loan
An accountant, a property developer and a loan agent were part of a young couple’s elaborate scam to get a loan for a Burnside home, a court has heard.
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A young couple allegedly enlisted others to fraudulently secure an $850,000 loan through fake pay slips and altered documents, a court has heard.
Stiliani Natalie Hagicostas, 31, and Vince Roman Sorrenti, 35, allegedly went to extreme lengths to have their bank loan approved for a Burnside home.
Accountant David Bruno Demasi, 53, property developer Antonio Guiseppe Luvera, 52, and loan agent Kristan Lewis Esposito, 41, are also accused of being involved in the elaborate scam.
A prosecutor told the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday that Ms Hagicostas and her de facto partner, Mr Sorrenti, lodged a loan application with the Commonwealth Bank on April 1, 2021.
The Commonwealth Bank loan agent was Mr Esposito.
“$850,000 was sought by Hagicostas to finance the purchase of a property at Burnside which was being sold by Antonia Luvera, a property developer,” the prosecutor said.
“As a result of a police telephone intercepts conducted on Sorrenti and emails between some of the parties, it is alleged that two documents presented to the Commonwealth Bank as part of the loan application had either been fabricated (a pay slip) or altered (a contract for sale) to accommodate the loan criteria of the Commonwealth Bank.
“It is alleged that Hagicostas’ payslip had been fabricated to portray that she had been an employee of West Central boxing gym since July 1, 2020 and had an annual salary of $125,000 when neither of those facts were true,” the prosecutor said.
The court heard telephone intercepts between Mr Sorrenti, Mr Esposito and accountant Mr Demasi were involved in discussions about needing to produce those documents to the bank.
“The payslip was then provided by Demasi as part of the loan application,” the prosecutor said.
The court heard Ms Hagicostas and Mr Luvera signed the contract of sale of the property with an execution date backdated from April 9, 2021 to March 9, 2021 so it would fall outside a 12-month loan approval window the Commonwealth Bank had for properties.
“Telephone intercept material shows that Sorrenti, Esposito and Luvera were involved in discussions surrounding the need to backdate the contract of sale and Luvera then provided the contract with the backdated date,” the prosecutor said.
Mr Sorrenti and Ms Hagicostas, both of Burnside, Mr Esposito, of Newton, Mr Demasi, of Henley Beach and Mr Luvera, of Tennyson, are all charged with dishonestly dealing with documents.
They are yet to enter any pleas.
The court heard the defendants’ counsel needed time to assess the new materials.
Magistrate John Wells adjourned the group’s charges until next month.
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