Bill Vlahos pleads guilty over massive punting club fraud
Three years after being charged, racing conman Bill Vlahos has finally pleaded guilty to charges over his $150 million punting club fraud. And a judge says it is “inevitable” that he will be jailed for his crimes.
Racing conman Bill Vlahos has pleaded guilty to charges over his $150 million punting club fraud.
Vlahos pleaded guilty to two rolled up charges at the County Court today after striking a plea deal following lengthy and ongoing discussions between his legal team and prosecutors.
He was charged with more than 300 offences, but pleaded guilty to two of obtaining financial advantage by deception to the value of just $17.5 million.
Judge Douglas Trapnell flagged jailing Vlahos today, but agreed to extend his bail until a pre-sentence hearing in February.
The move was not opposed by prosecutors.
But Judge Trapnell said Vlahos wouldn’t be able to stay out of jail long, saying a term of imprisonment was the inevitable sentence.
The collapse of Vlahos’ punting club in December 2013 was one of the biggest scandals in racing history.
He was due to face nine separate trials with the first expected to start last week.
In total, the back-to-back trials were scheduled to last more than six months.
Vlahos was charged with more than 300 offences in 2016 after a police investigation into his punting club activities.
Police and forensic accountants combed through ten of thousands of documents in building their case.
More than 1000 investors ploughed money into the scheme between 2008 and 2013 with the promise of big returns.
Leading Melbourne business identities were understood to be apart of the 1500 member syndicate.
Vlahos was fast becoming a leading figure in racing through his company BC3 Thoroughbreds when the syndicate collapsed.
The horse operations were funded by the scheme whose victims included some prominent Melbourne business people who believed they had “won” up to $500 million.
But the bets were never placed in the amount that Vlahos claimed.
Former Melbourne Football Club president Don McLardy and Bill Guest, owner of the Guest Group furniture company, were among the Vlahos’s high-profile victims.
Vlahos would supply punters with bet sheets representing the horses upon which bets were being placed, but put the money into his own account.
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The club collapsed in December 2013 when punters wanted to get their cash out.
The former high-flying betting syndicate operator says he’s now broke.
In the lead-up to the guilty plea, his lawyer Justin Wheelahan told Judge Douglas Trapnell the Crown had essentially accepted Vlahos’ plea offer.
But the complex brief needed some further negotiations, he said.
Crown prosecutors had remained resolute in their position, and repeatedly told the court their offer would not change.
Vlahos — who long denied any wrong doing, blaming a mystery Dubai-based man for running off with the cash — secured a final adjournment last week.