Bill Vlahos, the man who spearheaded the BC3 Thoroughbreds as well as the failed betting syndicate The Edge, has appeared in court over claims he was part of a betting scam.
Taking place in Melbourne, the case relates to 350 alleged counts of financial deception against Vlahos after his betting syndicate fell through, dating from 2005 to 2013, when Vlahos confirmed his bankruptcy.
The prosecution had originally intended to put forward the case that Vlahos had unlawfully extracted A$120m from members of his failed syndicate. However, the alleged amount was reduced to A$40 when a number of the charges were dropped last December.
In spite of a positive introduction, The Edge eventually went bust when a number of its big hitters opted to take their money out of the syndicate and invest it elsewhere. Following on from this, many of the syndicate’s leaders remained optimistic, even opting to pay out punters thesmelves.
Upon closure of the syndicate, Vlahos vowed to payback punters what they were owed and even hired top-tier law firm King & Wood Mallesons to ensure the process was achieved. However, many in the syndicate have alleged that Vlahos defrauded them out of millions.
Vlahos was previously under investigation from the stewards at Racing Victoria, who held suspicions over the details of Vlahos’ A$5 million (£2.88m/€3.27m) bid for sibling of the acclaimed horse Black Caviar in 2012.
