A DIRTY rotten scoundrel who fleeced his fiancé and her mother of their life savings was jailed today for six years by a judge who described him as a "cruel, rapacious criminal".
Judge Michael McInerney said George Bavelos claimed he was a wealthy international banker, investor and solicitor but he was in fact a callous, unrepentant liar, fraudster and predator.
Sentencing Bavelos in the County Court Judge McInerney said Bavelos beguiled teacher Helen Biamis and her retired hairdresser mother, Triana Boubis, with stories of wealth and his life as a Geneva-based international banker.
The judge said Bavelos talked to Mrs Boubis about personal issues and her savings and she came to trust him as an advisor.
"He was friendly, he was wealthy, he was able to be confided in, he had the ability as a stockbroker-solicitor and had a great deal of money,'' Judge McInerney said.
In reality Bavelos, 52, was an unemployed divorcee and serial fraudster who lived with his mum in Campbellfield."As he told her he made more money in an hour than some people would make in a lifetime.''
In a three-year period Bavelos ripped off $1.14 million from Mrs Boubis and Ms Biamis, claiming he had invested it overseas.
In December last year Bavelos was found guilty by a jury of nine counts of obtaining property by deception and one count of attempting to obtain property by deception.
Judge McInerney said Bavelos "lied with abandon'' at his trial, tendered forged documents, produced false receipts and continued to claim the victims' money was safely invested overseas.
The judge said he had never before commented to a jury on its verdict but told them the evidence presented by Bavelos was an insult to their intelligence.
Judge McInerney said he would refer the case to the Attorney General for possible perjury charges.
Bavlos manipulted the Greek culture, the judge said, to befuddle the women who were from a similar cultural background.
His callousness was illustrated by booking Mrs Boubis and Ms Biamis into the Ritz Hotel in London for a week but they did not realise their stolen investments was paying the $31,000 bill.
He also took them to stay at a Scottish castle which he pretended to own and the $20,000 was again met from the savings of the two women.
"He was cruelly using the the castle to further the ruse which allowed him to attain his victim's money,'' Judge McInerney said.
Judge McInerney said Bavelos disposed of the victims' fund in a "flagrant and callous'' manner.
"Such callousness is highlighted by passing himself off as their trusted financial advisor, respective future son-in-law and husband Bavelos was depleting their assets at a vast rate, often by way of spending upon the most outrageous extravagance,'' he said.
The judge said between August 2004 and February 2007 a total of $1,130,000 was deposited into a Bavelos account and totally dissipated.
Between August 2004 and October 2006 Bavelos deposited $217,000 into his personal Visa account and spent the lot.
In her victim impact statement Mrs Boubis said: ''He proved to be nothing more than a thief of the cruelest type, who walked into our lives to plunder and steal''.
The judge remarked that the victims had to pay a private investigator to expose Bavelos because of Victoria Police's policy of do-it-yourself fraud investigations.
When they approached Victoria Police 'fraud desk' they were told that because such investigations were complex and difficult they had to come up with the proof they had been fleeced.
Judge McInerney set a maximum term of nine years and two months.
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