Racing conman Bill Vlahos to spend first night in jail
Bill Vlahos is set to spend his first night in prison over a multi-million dollar scam in which he pocketed $17.5 million from 71 investors of his sham racing club The Edge.
Police & Courts
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Racing fraud Bill Vlahos will tonight spend his first night in jail for conning more than $17 million from victims of his punting club fraud.
Vlahos was remanded in custody today over his multi-million scam that saw him pocket $17.5 million from 71 victims.
He was originally charged with more than 300 offences after more than $129 million was lost to investors of his scam club.
But in a stunning plea deal Vlahos pleaded guilty to just two charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
The charges cover offending between 2008 and 2013 during which time Vlahos repeatedly lied to investors about The Edge punting club.
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 businesspeople who believed they had “won” millions of dollars.
But the bets were never placed in the amount that Vlahos claimed.
Vlahos would supply punters with bet sheets representing the horses upon which bets were being placed but then he would put the money into his own account.
The club collapsed in December 2013 when punters wanted to get their cash out.
A forensic analysis of his personal bank account found more than $128 million was credited to the account in that time, while $110 million was debited from it.
In Victim Impact Statements tendered to the court, Vlahos’s victims have told of the devastating fallout following the collapse of the club.
Many were left with crippling debts, while others lost their life savings.
Some victims were forced to sell their homes.
“I liken the feeling that I felt at that moment (when he learned of the collapse of the punting club) to getting pushed off a tall building, and while I spiralled downwards, watching the last 25 years of hard work sucked out of my lungs, the despair and hopelessness that descended upon me was overwhelming,” one victim said.
“When you are taken advantage of like I was, where you totally believed in them and the stories he told you, only to find out he was lying and now having admitted his guilt ... it has made me less trusting of others, even those close to me. I’m now always second guessing people’s intentions and agenda to help. I’m a lot more sceptical and less trusting of others now,” another said.
Prosecutors have called for a significant jail term for Vlahos, telling County Court judge Douglas Trapnell he must take into account the 10-year maximum available to him.
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Through his plea deal Vlahos avoided being sentenced as a continuing criminal enterprise offender which could have doubled the available maximum.
In submissions to the court prosecutor Deborah Mandie said Vlahos’s offending was in the “upper range” of gravity.
Justin Wheelehan, for Vlahos, said his client’s guilty pleas avoided nine potential trials that could have taken 12 months of court time.
“The salient mitigating factor on this plea, whilst late, is the purely utilitarian benefit of the plea,” he said.
The pre-sentence hearing continues.