Portland GP Abraham Stephanson pleads guilty to defrauding patients

A Portland GP convinced more than 20 community members to loan him hundreds of thousands of dollars for his “terminally ill” dad.

The number of victims of a now suspended doctor who defrauded patients and friends of more than $810,000, to fund his gambling habit, has increased.

Portland man Abraham Stephanson, 50, appeared in the County Court on Monday as he was arraigned on a further charge of obtaining a financial advantage by deception, bringing the total number of victims and charges to 20.

He has pleaded guilty to all charges.

The court heard Stephanson was working as a general practitioner at a medical clinic in Portland when he began asking patients for substantial loans to assist in funding his father’s blood cancer treatment.

Stephanson would ask for money to allow for his “terminally ill” father to complete his treatment overseas – sometimes he would say it was in China and other times the United States – and then send the victim a ‘loan agreement’ with his bank details.

The offending came to light after NAB’s fraud department began investigating Stephanson for suspicious activity, with some of the victims then advised to contact police.

The “loans” he was paid by the 20 different individuals and couples – all who were patients with the exception of one friend – ranged from amounts of $5000 to $120,000.

In all, he acquired $812,000 during almost a year – the vast majority of which he gambled. However some of the money was also used to pay his mortgage repayments, taxes and groceries.

He also unsuccessfully tried to obtain $35,000 from other victims, the court heard.

The court was told he had repaid just over $190,000 to some of the victims, leaving $621,981 outstanding.

Sadly, one of the victims – an elderly man – died last week. The court heard he had been paid back about three quarters of the $100,000 he had loaned Stephanson.

During a police interview on December 19, 2020, Stephanson conceded that gambling was “a problem” for him.

He told investigators he had been gambling for between five and 10 years and while it wasn’t a big problem initially, he had come to feel “trapped” and used his BetFair account almost every day.

He also told police he would try to increase the sum every time he had a bit of money but he would then lose it, so he was “playing catch up”.

According to the prosecution, Stephanson’s father was interviewed after his son was arrested and bailed.

He told police he had cancer but had not travelled outside Australia for treatment and had not asked for or received any money from his son.

During Monday’s hearing, Stephanson’s lawyer made submissions about five issues, including his efforts to repay his victims.

She said he had renovated his house so it could be sold off to compensate the victims.

The court heard his Portland home had been sold for $1.57 million in April this year, with the settlement to take place in August.

The plea hearing will continue next month, when a number of witnesses will give evidence for the defence.