VLAHOS STRIKES PLEA DEAL
RACING conman Bill Vlahos has drastically reduced the amount of time he could spend behind bars after striking a shock plea deal with prosecutors over his punting club fraud.
Vlahos was originally charged with more than 300 offences after more than $150 million was lost to investors of his scam club.
Yesterday he pleaded guilty to just two charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception relating to funds totalling just $17.5 million.
The plea came after months of negotiations with prosecutors and means Vlahos will avoid nine back to back trials that were expected to last at least six months.
But the deal raised the concern of County Court judge Douglas Trapnell who said it went against the intention of legislation to impose tougher punishment on serial offenders like Vlahos.
Victorian legislation provides that offenders can be sentenced as continuing criminal enterprise offenders if they have a pattern of similar offending.
An offender is deemed a continuing criminal enterprise offender once convicted of at least three offences in relation to property, financial advantages, goods, gains or losses valued at $50,000 or more.
It means they can face an increased maximum penalty of up to double.
Because Vlahos pleaded guilty to just two charges, the scheme will not apply to him.
He now faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years behind bars.
Judge Trapnell said the Court of Appeal had “frowned upon” similar plea deals.
But prosecutor Deborah Mandie said the decision was made to accept Vlahos’ plea “in the interest of resolving the matter”.
“It does rather defeat the purpose of the legislation … I indicate my concern,” Judge Trapnell said.
Vlahos admitted offending between 2008 and 2013.
The collapse of his punting club in December 2013 was one of the biggest scandals in racing history.
He was charged in 2016 after a police investigation into his punting club activities.
Police and forensic accountants combed through tens of thousands of documents in building their case.
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 business people who believed they had “won” up to $500 million.
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 put the money into his own account.
The club collapsed in December 2013 when punters wanted to get their cash out.
More than 1000 investors ploughed money into the scheme between 2008 and 2013 with the promise of big returns.
Former Melbourne Football Club president Don McLardy and Bill Guest, owner of the Guest Group furniture company, were among Vlahos’s high-profile victims.
Other leading Melbourne business identities were also understood to be a part of the 1500 member syndicate.
The County Court heard yesterday Vlahos plea related to 68 individual victims.
They will now each be spoken to and have the opportunity to file a victim impact statement with the court for consideration ahead of Vlahos’ sentence.
Vlahos — who long denied any wrong doing, blaming a mystery Dubai-based man for running off with the cash — remains on bail.
Judge Douglas Trapnell flagged jailing him immediately, but ultimately agreed to extend his bail until a presentence hearing in February following a plea by his lawyer.
Judge Trapnell said the decision to extend Vlahos’ bail, a move not opposed by prosecutors.
But he said Vlahos wouldn’t be able to stay out of jail long, saying a term of imprisonment was inevitable.