One of the reasons why a professional poker lifestyle appears to be so attractive is because of the high cash payouts and the extravagant lifestyle that it appears to offer. Nobody lives the extravagant poker lifestyle better than Bilzerian who constantly uses social media to post pictures of him on vacation, with hot women, fast cards and guns.
Yet this week, Achilleas Kallakis successfully managed to steal the spotlight from Bilzerian with his daring exploits. Kallakis plays poker and has won over $1 million in career earnings but he also has a number of other side businesses that he uses to make a living. His business dealings appear to be based on a pack of lies.
Kallakis was accused of defrauding and conning a number of banks and individuals out of £750 Million as he spun a web of lies involving the sale of premium property. He successfully managed to get banks to loan him money in his quest to purchase 16 well known properties across the United Kingdom. Some of these flagship properties included the Daily Telegraph Headquarters in London which is valued at £225m and the Croydon Home Office building which is valued at £100m.
Kallakis comes from a wealthy family background as his uncle is a Green shipping tycoon.
Kallakis collaborated with Alexander Williams who is a master forger and together they conned the Bank of Scotland and the Allied Irish Bank into loaning them huge sums of money.
Kallakis used the money to fund an extravagant lifestyle that included purchasing a private jet valued at £27m, a luxury yacht that is now in Monaco and a helicopter for £5.2m. He also loved to travel in style locally and had himself a fleet of expensive cars and chauffeurs to drive him where he pleased. He also purchased expensive homes in Brompton Square, Chelsea and Mykonos in Greece.
Once Kallakis found that he was able to get away with fraudulent documents, he decided to take things further. Forming a partnership with Williams, they opened a company in Mayfair under the name of the Pacific Group of Companies. They used this company as a front to further defraud lenders into providing them funds that totaled around £766m, all of which were based on falsified documents.
Kallakis was tried by a court and found guilty of commitment fraud. He was sentenced to seven years in prison but required to pay just £3 Million back.
