Poker Player Guilty of Massive Bank Fraud

Poker Player Guilty of Massive Bank Fraud

Thursday, 17 January 2013

London-based businessman and sometime poker player Achilleas Kallakis has been found guilty of defrauding banks of millions of pounds.

Kallakis, and co-defendant Alexander Williams used forged and false documents between 2003 and 2008 to borrow £740m from AIB which they used to build a 16-property commercial portfolio.


According to the Serious Fraud Office, the Bank of Scotland also agreed a loan of €29 million which according to Kallakis, was needed to convert a former passenger ferry into a super-yacht for his personal use. €5.7m of this loan was advanced.


The jury at Southwark Crown Court heard that Kallakis used the proceeds of the fraud to fund a playboy lifestyle. The 44-year-old maintained a fleet of chauffer driven Bentleys, a private plane, a private helicopter, a luxury yacht moored in Monaco harbour and a collection of high value art works.


The pair were found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to defraud and will be sentenced later today.


Kallakis will be a familiar face to many TV poker viewers. His best results were a third place finish in the 2005 888.com Pacific Poker Open where he pocketed £100,000 and two wins in PartyPoker's Poker Den for £50,000 apiece. He's probably best known for being involved in one of the most extraordinary hands in televised poker history though.


Kallakis was eliminated from PartyPoker's European Open III after his pocket aces were cracked by pocket queens. Nothing extraordinary about that but throw in the fact that another player had pocket kings and two other players had smaller pocket pairs and you've got a monstrous hand. You can see the coldest of cold deck hands below.





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Tags: Achilleas Kallakis, crime