AIB and fraud

Two men have now been charged with one of the UK's biggest property frauds which saw Allied Irish Banks lose st£56 million. Achilleas Kollakis persuaded the bankers he was a big player in the property market. He got loans thanks to having blue-chip tenants for various properties (such as UK government agencies.) The claims were fake or exaggerated. Read the press release from the Serious Fraud Office here and follow the links through a previous post for more information on Kollakis' colourful life.

FRAUDSTER named

The man at the centre of the massive mortgage fraud in which Allied Irish Bank was targeted was named in today's Guardian as Stefan Kollakis. In 1995 he was convicted of selling bogus feudal titles to foreigners for as much as st£85,000. While working in a travel company he set up a fake 'heraldic institution'. He later re-invented himself as Achilleas Kallakis and was able to fake enough references to persuade lenders to to hand over millions of pounds to build up an impressive property portfolio between 2003 until 2007.