A con man, who scammed a Greek mother and daughter out of $1.1 million, has been jailed for at least six years, according to AAP reports. George Bavelos, 52, passed himself off as a wealthy financial adviser, banker and solicitor to his then fiance Helen Biamis and her mother Triana Boubis when he swindled their life savings from them.
In reality, he was an unemployed father of one who lived with his parents in Campbellfield, had been unemployed for eight years, and had several convictions, dating back to 1990, for obtaining property and financial advantage by deception, theft, and forgery, the Victorian County Court heard. In December Bavelos was found guilty at trial of nine counts of obtaining property by deception and one count of attempting to obtain property by deception. On Thursday, Judge Michael McInerney sentenced him to nine years and two months jail, with a minimum term of six years.
The court heard that Bavelos took $400,000 from his then fiance and $747,463 from her mother, robbing her of her life savings. He told them he was investing their money overseas, but was instead using it to substantiate his claims that he was wealthy. The court heard that as part of his ruse he took his fiance and her mother on a holiday to the Ritz Hotel in London and a Scottish castle which he claimed he owned.
They did not know that these extravagancies were being paid for by their investments. Judge McInerney described Bavelos’ deception as flagrant and callous, and also said that in giving evidence Bavelos “lied with abandon”. “Never before in my time upon the bench have I felt so compelled to apologise to the jury for the farce of the defence they had to endure,” Judge McInerney said.