Cheating casanova conman Paul Carter duped women, businesses in elaborate swindles
A Lothario liar from Westmeadows posing as a rich Maserati-driving developer has dudded a long list of women including the daughter of a multi-millionaire, in a Dirty John-style saga spanning two continents.
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A casanova conman has fooled two wives and a fiancee, family and several businesses and investors out of millions of dollars in an elaborate series of scams.
Paul Carter, 52, a tradie dad from Melbourne’s outer northern suburbs, is also sought by police over untested allegations of rape.
In an extraordinary saga, Lothario liar Carter has dudded a long list of women, businesses and a charity through his deceits.
Carter — aka Paul Cristallo — is accused of posing as a multi-millionaire developer, who drove Maseratis and even gifted supercars to besotted partners, lured in with fake online dating profiles.
“He is a monster,” said former fiancee and alleged rape victim Katherine De Bois (not her real surname).
The swindler adamantly denied conning anyone when the Herald Sun tracked him down this week in New York State, in the US, also vehemently denying the rape claim.
But two ex-wives, a former fiancee, family members, businesses, clients and a church charity have told how they were fleeced by the father-of-four.
Victoria Police has confirmed that Carter will be arrested at the border to be questioned over the rape claims if he returns to Australia.
Carter has recently become engaged to another woman in the United States.
His jilted lovers believe it is a ploy to get a visa to stay in the US permanently.
The saga is reminiscent of the Netflix series Dirty John, which stars Eric Bana as a cunning loverat.
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Carter’s third wife Brooklin Carter this week told the Herald Sun that she had just finalised their divorce, following a nightmare of his affairs, lies and deceptions.
Brooklin said both herself and her father, a multi-millionaire property developer in Melbourne’s southeast, had lost huge sums of cash to Carter.
“It’s about time he was made accountable,” Brooklin said.
She says she first learned of Carter’s duplicity from Katherine.
The women claim while she was setting up a new life in the US for herself, Carter and their son in 2014, he was wooing Katherine in Melbourne, posing as a self-made millionaire property mogul.
At the time he was living in a Box Hill townhouse.
He told her works were underway on a penthouse, which he planned to build with his ex-partner, who he claimed had died of bone cancer, was being renovated, Katherine says.
He drove a Maserati and even gifted Katherine one (both of which she now believes were rented).
Carter then convinced Katherine to make him the power of attorney for her Clifton Hill beauty salon, months before it was due to be bought by the state government in a compulsory acquisition for the ultimately abandoned East West Link.
During a whirlwind courtship, they were engaged at the State Library.
But Katherine claims the love affair took a dangerous turn after she learnt of his double life, with him threatening to have her killed and later raping her.
The Herald Sun is not suggesting the allegations are true, but police have confirmed they are investigating both.
“Detectives from Melbourne West Criminal Investigation Unit are investigating an alleged threat in the Box Hill area in 2014,” a police spokeswoman said this week.
“Box Hill Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team (SOCIT) detectives are investigating a report of sexual assault offences that took place in the Box Hill area in 2014.
“Victoria Police work with other policing and government agencies to locate and arrest offenders. As both investigations are ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
Katherine says as their relationship unravelled, she discovered the penthouse, the wealth, the dead partner and even the engagement ring were all fake.
She said Carter claimed to be from a wealthy English family and educated at Scotch College when in fact he was born to working class Italian migrants and lived much of his life in Melbourne’s outer north.
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Katherine has even written a self-published book detailing her claims and is talking to a Hollywood producer about doing a documentary or drama.
After a quiet suburban life raising a family in Westmeadows, Carter changed when he turned 30.
Carter’s first wife, Elise Ryan, also claims he owes her thousands of dollars in unpaid support payments for their three children, who now refer to him as “the sperm donor”.
He had done “horrible things”, she added.
Questioned about the claims in Albany, where he now lives, Carter said the claims were “bulls**t”, while his new fiancee said he was simply being targeted by jealous exes because he had moved on.