Serial love rat conman Paul Carter left own mum homeless
He duped two wives and a fiancee out of millions with his elaborate scams, but lying Lothario Paul Carter would stoop lower still. His own mother says she will never forgive him after he left her homeless and destitute.
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A casanova conman’s elderly mother says she hopes never to lay eyes on her cruel, lying son again.
Gianna Cristallo, 76, says she was left homeless and financially desperate after the family business — directed by Paul Carter — was driven into the ground.
Carter would go on to fool her sick, ageing partner, Jim Quattrocelli, 75, to hand over his home and land for a “retirement investment”, family claim.
The home was bulldozed and Carter secured a bank loan for the project, then he fled to the US, sources say.
“I just can’t believe a son could do that to his mother,” Ms Cristallo said.
“He is so good at lying he deserves a gold medal.”
It comes after the Herald Sun yesterday revealed that the fantasist duped two wives, a fiancée and several businesses and clients out of millions of dollars in an elaborate series of scams.
The Sunday Herald Sun can further reveal today that Carter, 52, has been accused of running a church charity into the ground, leaving it on the brink of collapse, while he was its CEO.
Both Gianna Cristallo and her partner were left with almost nothing after Carter duped them, she says.
What should have been their golden retirement years have been spent paying rent and living off the pension.
The elderly couple described Carter as “the biggest crook in the world”.
His mother told the Herald Sun she would never forgive her son.
“I got left out on the streets with absolutely nothing,” Ms Cristallo said.
“I really don’t want to talk to him and I really don’t want to see him. I know that’s a horrible thing to say but I have already mourned and it’s done.”
In the 1990s, the Cristallo family had a snow gear business named Alpine Concepts.
As the company expanded, Carter — whose surname at the time was Cristallo — began racking up huge debts, including for fast cars, according to sources.
Close family friend John Minutolo said it ended in disaster.
“They bought fast cars and raced them at Calder Park, costing thousands of dollars to repair (and the proceeds of which were) coming out of the business,” he said.
“At this stage the Cristallos realised that their debts were more than their assets and with money borrowed mainly from friends and family they opted to go into a larger premises, leasing larger machinery, hiring more employees and buying more flashy cars.
“It soon became obvious that the business was failing badly.”
Creditors came knocking when the business went into liquidation, with her Greenvale home, which had been secretly listed as security, sold from beneath her.
It was enough to destroy her marriage to his late father, Giovanni Cristallo.
At this point, he changed his name to Carter.
With his new name came a new life.
The serial conartist moved to the affluent eastern suburbs where he reinvented himself as a successful builder from a wealthy family.
Years later he would again scam his family.
After spending time in the US, Carter came back to Melbourne and convinced his mother’s elderly partner to hand over the title to his home in Fawkner.
This was around the time he was wooing his ex fiancee, Katherine De Bois (not her real surname) while still married to his third wife living in the US.
The Fawkner property and land were valued at up to $600,000, family say.
Carter promised to build three townhouses including one for Jim, a hardworking Italian immigrant.
Sarah Quattrocelli said Carter preyed upon her trusting father-in-law, who speaks limited English.
“My father-in-law expressed that he wanted to sell his property and downgrade,” she said.
“Paul offered to buy his home and land and build three units. One would be for Jim and it would be fully furnished with no steps … everything an old person wants.”
Ms Quattrocelli alleged Carter used fake legal documents to deceive the elderly man.
The Herald Sun has been told once the title was signed over, Carter used it to borrow the maximum amount from the banks.
This was possible after he bulldozed the home and laid three concrete slabs down.
Once the money cleared, Carter fled the country.
“He assured everything was above board and got a solicitor to draw up the contracts,” said Ms Quattrocelli.
“He put down the slabs to show the banks he had the intention to build, which he never did.
“Once the bank released the money for the build, he was gone.”
Mr Quattrocelli believed it was “100% above board” even after Carter left the country, said his daughter-in-law.
The Herald Sun yesterday revealed police plan to arrest Carter at the airport in relation to untested claims from Katherine that she was raped by him.
Ms Cristallo said police had also notified them that Carter would be arrested at the airport should he return, in relation to the Fawkner home con.
“You can change your name but you can’t change your fingerprints,” she said.
Carter would not address his mother’s claims when he was questioned at his new home in New York State capital Albany by the Sunday Herald Sun about it this week.
“No, just don’t go there,” he said when asked.
Regarding her partner losing his home, he said: “They went into a development and the estimator that they used screwed up the whole cost plan, which then cost me money so I pulled out of it. It’s as simple as that.”