Jailed: Bogus lawyer who conned £1m from clients

 
Jailed: Giovanni Di Stefano, 57
28 March 2013
WEST END FINAL

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The bogus lawyer nicknamed the Devil’s Advocate was jailed for 14 years for acting as a predator on “desperate and vulnerable clients”.

Giovanni Di Stefano, 57, defrauded the innocent out of more than £1m with “breathtaking cynicism” over more than 10 years.

He was convicted yesterday at Southwark Crown Court of 25 counts of fraud and deception and today admitted two more charges and asked for three further counts to be left on the file.

The new charges included defrauding a couple out of £160,000, including a pensioner’s life savings, and stealing £150,000 insurance payout  intended for a hospital-bound road crash victim who had lost an arm.

Sentencing, Judge Alistair McCreath, the Recorder of Westminster, said: “You have never been a lawyer other than in our own deceitful representation of yourself.

“Your only purpose was to enrich yourself by dishonest means.

“There is more than one kind of predator - some hunt down their victims while others lie in wait for them - and all your victims were desperate people and vulnerable.”

The judge denounced Di Stefano for his “greed, dishonesty and utter disregard for the sensibilities of others.”

He added: “While this case is about money it is also about something different and greater: the real distress you caused to so many people.

“The dreadful distress and anxiety of these people’s suffering  leap off the page. Your only concern was to line your own pockets.”

Di Stefano had given himself the title of “avvocato” and pretended to be a qualified lawyer despite only having an honorary degree from the University of Belgrade.

He earned his nickname after representing notorious criminals including road rage killer Kenneth Noye, timeshare fraudster John “Goldfinger” Palmer and property tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten.

He also bragged of meetings with Osama Bin Laden, Robert Mugabe and Serbian warlord Arkan and was friends with Serbian war criminal Slobodan Milosevic’s daughter.

Prosecutor David Aronberg QC said he was “no more a qualified lawyer than a surgeon qualified to perform surgery or pilot qualified to fly an aeroplane.”

The  prosecutor added: “If he was Pinocchio his nose would be out of the courtroom door by now.”

After being sentenced Di Stefano responded: “I am obliged my lord,” and was led to the cells.

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