Syndicate leader bashed as punters fear huge fleecing

DateDecember 10, 2013

The gigantic punting club run by racing identity Bill Vlahos may have taken as much as $500 million from its 1000 members without laying any bets, Fairfax Media has learnt.

New details about the punters club, The Edge, emerged on Monday after a day during which Mr Vlahos was beaten up on his property and walked away from his BC3 Thoroughbreds horse racing empire. Administrators were called in to take over its operations.

While powerless to take any action over The Edge, Racing Victoria stewards on Monday launched an investigation into BC3, which owns a string of horses including champion mare Black Caviar's $5 million half-brother ''Jimmy''.

Corporate documents show that bloodstock agent Inglis holds mortgages over Jimmy and 10 other horses that the company sold to BC3 this year, raising the possibility it might seek to seize the thoroughbreds.

A meeting of members of The Edge on Sunday was told that more than 1000 people could be affected by the implosion of the scheme.

While a court has heard that $190 million was invested in the scheme, sources said the amount could be as much as $500 million.

Questions are now being asked as to whether the group actually placed bets, with major betting firms throughout Australasia reporting they had not handled any wagers from the group.

After early returns of 21.1 per cent each quarter, the group paid out 46.4 per cent on clients' money in the final quarter of 2012. The syndicate began to implode when several clients took their money out following the bonanza result.

One corporate bookmaker said the Australian racing gambling market could not have coped with the mammoth volume of funds The Edge claimed to be betting.

''If you had $200 million in capital and have to pay out $50 million a year, that's an awful lot of winners, and quite frankly the national system would not cope,'' he said.

''Some of the smartest and most sophisticated gamblers in Australia may derive 5 per cent to perhaps 10 per cent margin on profit in a very good year, so the promise of a 25 per cent return must be total nonsense.''

Mr Vlahos' resignation as a director of three companies in the BC3 group on Monday came hours after he was bashed and a car was torched on one of his properties. The bashing followed an appearance before the NSW Supreme Court on Friday during which Mr Vlahos' lawyer said his client had received threats and was concerned for his safety.

Documents filed with the corporate regulator show Mr Vlahos' resignation left the BC3 group's chief executive, former Richmond Football Club general manager of football Craig Cameron, as the sole office-bearer of BC3 Thoroughbreds, BC3 Holdings and Grace Park.

Insolvency experts Michael Hird and Trent Hancock of Moore Stephens were appointed administrators on Monday afternoon.

On Sunday night police responded to reports of an assault at a property owned by Mr Vlahos on Randles Road, Connewarre, south-west of Melbourne.

Police said the victim was a 48-year-old Torquay man, who sources have confirmed was Mr Vlahos. He was treated at the scene for minor injuries.

A car on the property was engulfed in flames. It took four fire trucks to put out the fire


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/synd...l#ixzz2n29bAe2q

Post deleted. We can do without this sort of speculation here.

Moderator.

Post deleted.

Please see if your allegations will be published in a newspaper.

Please do not post them here.

Thank you.

Moderator.

I can't believe the financial devastation this would have brought to Yarrawonga. We were there a year ago considering retiring there. A beautiful place.

You bet 600 Yarrawonga residents are angry at losing $73 million in punting club
STEPHEN DRILL HERALD SUN DECEMBER 10, 2013 4:11PM

Bill Vlahos has spoken exclusively to The Herald Sun about The Edge Punters Club

"I'm very confident in two weeks' time that everyone will have their money," he said at the time.

Mr Vlahos met with the Herald Sun at Pure South restaurant in Southbank last Monday, December 2, for lunch.

As he ate his roast chicken meal, he was at pains to reassure his members they would be paid.

He said his investor overseas was about to release tens of millions of dollars that would square the ledger.

Then his world came crashing down after he told a court he found out that the Westpac account he had pumped $194 million into did not exist.

In a wide-ranging interview he spoke of the pain that his children might be bullied at school because of his punters club.


Bill Vlahos told the Herald Sun money would be repaid to punters.. Source: News Limited
And he denied that he ever planned to leave the country, saying his six-month stint in Singapore this year was to expand his horse racing business BC3 Thoroughbreds.

A syndicate of 600 people in Yarrawonga lost $73 million with the apparent collapse of the Vlahos punting club.

The northern Victoria border town was the epicentre of the secret club, whose first rule was that it was not to be discussed. There were up to 1000 members in total.

Furniture king Bill Guest and his company director Paul Bevilacqua, who owns a share in Black Caviar's half brother Jimmy, were among some of the high-profile investors.

Former Demons president Don McLardy also lost money, as well as media identities and punters in legal circles and the building trade.

One syndicate manager, who lost $9 million with a close group of friends, said the pain was widespread.

"In Yarrawonga there were 600 people, they lost $73 million," he said. "With my $9 million, that's only two of the syndicates, how much money is there?"

Mr Vlahos said he would back horses in Melbourne and Sydney races each Saturday, laying bets through an overseas middleman Daniel Maxwell who promised higher returns that Australian corporate bookmakers.

Mr Vlahos had direct contact with 20 syndicate managers, who in turn recruited their own members.

The Herald Sun understands members of the Yarrawonga Football Club were involved in the syndicate based in the town. Other members said they had lost more than $90,000 of their own money, before winnings were added.

"I heard about it through a friend, it sounded too good to be true," one member said.

"I feel like an idiot. This was my savings of a lifetime, it came from not paying down my mortgage. We're all a little bit greedy, it's human nature."

Former Demons President Don McLardy allegedly lost money in the punting club.
Another member said he was introduced by a work mate but didn't see the alarm bells.

"I was in it for three or four years, I just kept rolling it over," he said.

"People have been trying to get their money out for eight months. It fell over when a large investor wanted to get out."

The chase the for the missing millions will now begin.

But Mr Vlahos has no assets - his family home in Torquay is in the name of his wife Joanne.

And his Westpac bank accounts have been frozen until he returns to court for a hearing into how much he owes a company called Aloga, which was the name used by one of the club members.

Mr Vlahos had lunch with the Herald Sun last week where he promised to pay back all funds within two weeks.

He said members trusted him.

"There's nothing in writing because it's a punting club and it's a trust punting club, the people that are in it have made the decision that they understand how the punting club works between me and them," he said.

Mr Vlahos did not return calls or text messages yesterday.

Mr Guest, Mr Bevilacqua and Mr McLardy have all declined to comment.

stephen.drill@news.com.au

Post deleted. Please do not make these speculations here. Thank you. Moderator.

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