Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Achilleas Kallakis, dubbed "The Don" for his high mafioso like bravado in defrauding Allied Irish Bank and the Bank of Scotland out of £750 million, has been sentenced to seven years.
AIB Dublin - Courtesy Google Streetview
In a scheme that included Kallakis forger Alexander Williams, "The Don" created a sham to fool the two banks into buying properties across the UK, properties and a plan which turned out to be smoke and mirrors and costed investors £60 million, when all was said and done.
Britain's biggest ever mortgage scam has a happy ending, sort of. The poker playing jet setter, who actually owned a private jet, helicopter and super-yacht, gets a few years in jail. Southwark Crown Court, Judge Andrew Goymer gave Kallakis seven, and Williams five years for orchestrating the massive cheat. The two went so far as to leverage their fake assurances to buy the Daily Telegraph in Central London.
What's interesting, or shabby about the case is the fact the two were previously found guilty of selling English titles to unwitting Americans back in the 90's. While the judged seemed to admonish the banks for ignoring the advice of their council in trusting the pair, the sentence for many seems exceedingly light. The rational for every-man in the UK being, in this economy most would trade 7 years for the millions still floating about beneath this scheme.
The Daily Mail report on the affair is the most extensive, revealing all the pictures and ins and outs of the shady dealings. In the UK, prison sentences for a set length, and over 12 months, allow the convicts to serve half the sentence behind bars, and the other half basically on parole. There is also time off for good behavior, and allowances for time spent being remanded during the trial. What has not be said in the whole affair is exactly how much time "The Don" will serve for perpetrating Britain's biggest real estate fraud ever.
A final note, back in March of 2012 the Allied Irish Bank let go some 2500 employees, a bit of the penalty taxpayers pay for these crimes, perhaps?
