Racing figure pleads guilty to $17.5m betting fraud
Melbourne racing identity Bill Vlahos has admitted to defrauding punters of $17.5 million in a complex con.
On Monday, the 54-year-old pleaded guilty to two charges of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by pocketing $17,520,225 paid by his betting club investors between 2008 and 2013.
According to court documents, 68 people who were caught up in the scam believed Vlahos was betting their money on thoroughbred horses on their behalf.
However, the bets were either never placed or only a fraction of the money was laid.
“The betting numbers attached to the betting sheets were not true or accurate and the betting and results sheets contained false information,” the court documents stated.
In one case from May 2008, Vlahos claimed to have put $219,000 on a horse called Gorky Park and won $657,000, when he had in fact placed only $2,500 and gained $9,000 in return.
The documents also described The Edge, which Vlahos opened in 2002/2003, as a “Ponzi scheme” used to “service the unrelated personal expenditure” of Vlahos and his other businesses.
The syndicate folded in 2013 after gamblers looked to cash out. Vlahos filed for bankruptcy in the same year.
While Vlahos initially faced 374 charges for deceiving up to 1,500 victims out of $128 million, a deal was reached between his lawyers and prosecutors for him to plead guilty to only two charges.
Judge Douglass Trapnell said Vlahos’ imprisonment was “inevitable” due to the serious nature of his offences.
Vlahos’ bail was extended. He is expected to appear before court on February 4 for a pre-sentence hearing.