Fraudster fronts court for swindling family out of nearly 400k

A serial fraudster conned two family members into handing over nearly $400,000 for a fake house and land package in an elaborate scam.

Fraudster Angela Liberatore has gone to jail for conning two family members into paying her nearly $400,000 for a fake house and land package.

A serial fraudster has gone to jail for scamming two family members into paying her nearly $400,000 for a fake house and land package.

Angela Liberatore was sentenced in the County Court on Thursday to five years’ and three months’ jail after she was found guilty on 33 charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception and two of obtaining property by deception.

The 50-year-old from Templestowe conned her cousin Jessica Lacivita and her husband Peter Koukos into paying her $372,400 towards a residential property in Queensland.

Liberatore obtained a further $10,000 from Ms Lacivita’s mother as contribution towards the couple’s honeymoon in Fiji.

Jessica Lacivita and her husband Peter Koukos got sucked in by Angela Liberatore and gave her nearly $400,000 for a land a house package in Queensland.

In 2014, Liberatore was operating a business Luxury Homes Designs Pty Ltd selling residential properties on behalf of developers.

She suggested the couple buy a residential property in Queensland and all they’d have to do is put down a deposit and said she could help them secure finance.

After obtaining a loan and paying her $372,400, Ms Lacivita contacted Liberatore on several occasions for an update in mid-2017 and Liberatore advised her the development was delayed because of cyclones in the area.

Eventually Liberatore told the couple the developer had gone into liquidation, there was nothing that could be done and that their entire funds were missing. She told them not to contact her again.

The matter was reported to police in October 2017.

Over the course of nearly three years between March 2014 and December 2016, Liberatore defrauded the couple and Ms Lacivita’s mother total of $382,400 in 35 separate transactions.

“At various stages of your nefarious stages of conduct, you could have ceased your dishonest actions but you persisted in your insidious exploitation of your position of trust as a close friend and relative,” Judge Douglas Trapnell said.

“You egregiously abused that trust when you engaged in sustained dishonest conduct taking funds that had been entrusted to you. You engaged in a systematic and deliberate course of conduct that occurred over the course of nearly three years and involved repeated acts of dishonesty.

“What became of the funds you defrauded from them has never been revealed. One can only surmise you used the funds to support your lifestyle. Matter reported to police in October 2017.

While reading out her victim impact statement in court late last year, Ms Lacivita broke down while detailing her “grief and betrayal” at being conned by a “smooth talking” cousin.

“I could have secured a more promising future for my beautiful kids and instead am paying off a huge loan with absolutely nothing to show for it,” she said.

Liberatore will have to serve three years and eight months before being eligible for parole.