Victim caught up in Bill Vlahos’ collapsed gambling club is suing National Australia Bank
A punter embroiled in the $150 million collapse of the betting club set up by fallen racing identity Bill Vlahos is now suing the bank he used.
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Exclusive: A gambler caught up in the $150 million collapse of the punting club set up by fallen racing identity Bill Vlahos is suing the bank he used.
The victim claims National Australia Bank should have alerted authorities to the “several hundred million dollars” flowing through Vlahos’s accounts.
A Supreme Court writ lodged on December 13 by Charles Cheeseman, on behalf of other members of Vlahos’s The Edge punting club, argues the bank was “recklessly indifferent”.
It also accuses NAB of breaking money-laundering and terrorism-financing laws.
In September, Vlahos pleaded guilty to defrauding almost $18 million from more than 1000 punters in a host of syndicates across Australia, from 2008 to 2013.
Originally he faced more than 350 charges but prosecutors withdrew most of them.
When The Edge collapsed in late 2013 and he first appeared in court, he claimed $150 million of punters’ money had been taken by an associate who had vanished overseas.
Vlahos promised big returns to those who invested in his club, which grew by word of mouth. He would send out bet sheets claiming to show which horses he had picked, but instead of placing bets he stashed most of the money into his own account to fund his lifestyle.
The club was later described as a Ponzi scheme.
The claim filed by Mr Cheeseman states that the sums flowing through Vlahos’s account that could not have been the result of normal business activities.
“The plaintiff believes amounts totalling several hundred million dollars were paid into and out of the bank accounts which included funds … owned by the plaintiff,” a draft copy of the claim, seen by News Corp Australia, states.
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“The plaintiff contends that by reason of the suspicious transactions into the bank accounts, the defendant was required to make repeated reporting thereof under the provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act.”
A leaked email sent to former punting club members has asked for help in financing the case. “We are looking at class action,” the punting club member wrote.
“If you are interested in going in the class action or have other people that you know of who deposited money into NAB or your syndicate to punt with Vlahos, and lost money, please contact me.”
A NAB spokesman said they couldn’t comment on the case but said the bank “take our anti-money laundering obligations seriously and continue to work closely and cooperatively with regulators to detect, deter and disrupt financial crime.”
Vlahos, who grew up in commission housing in Prahran in Melbourne’s inner east, was a big name in racing.
He put in a $5 million bid for Jimmy, a half-brother of Black Caviar, but never paid the bill.
His racing company BC3 Thoroughbreds, based in Connewarre, also collapsed when the punting club folded.
stephen.drill@news.co.uk