Cara Delevingne’s school named hall after fraudster

The SFO is looking to claw back £92,500 from Britain’s biggest ever mortgage fraudster who made a substantial donation to Cara Delevingne’s former school in Chelsea.

Achilleas Kallakis, 54, donated £250,000 to the £21,000 a year to Francis Holland School in 2005 which boasts high profile alumni such as Dame Joan Collins, Sienna Miller and Tamara Ecclestone.

The independent school in Sloane Square, which was attended by Kallakis’ daughter Erinoula, was raising money for a new wing and a new theatre.

The hall was named after the Kallakis family but agreed to pay the fraudster’s son Michaelis £92,500 in July 2021 after he launched a civil action in the High Court following the removal of the family name from the theatre.

An overall settlement was reached for the school to pay £104,500 and £12,000 in costs.

Michaelis had argued that they had breached the terms of contract by removing a plaque with the Kallakis’ family name on it following his conviction for fraud in 2013.

‘The SFO applies for a re-consideration of his available amount’, said prosecutor Christopher Convey.

‘It has increased by £92,500.

‘The defendant was the prime mover behind the making of the donation to the school.

‘It was very much a first person approach by the defendant.

‘The money came from the defendant’s proceeds of crime.

‘It came from a Swiss bank account operated by the defendant’s co-conspirator Michael Becker.’

‘The defendant suggested an interest in the creation of a new theatre at the school.’

Kallakis claimed that the donation came not from him but from the Syndicated Trust from shipping and real estate.

Achilleas’ wife Pamela Kallakis’ wife initially wrote to the school on 4 March 2020 claiming a breach of contract by removing the plaque with the family name on it.

‘Nowhere does she mention that it is for the Trust’, said Mr Convey. ‘She put herself at the centre of the claim.’

Andreas Kallakis’ assets includes a villa on the island of Mykonos, Greece, half share of a £4.5m property in Brompton Square and a debenture at Queen’s Tennis Club in West Kensington.

Kallakis, nephew of a Greek shipping magnate, conned lenders into advancing loans to buy 16 landmark properties across the UK.

Once a high rolling poker player dubbed ‘The Don’ he teamed up with ‘prolific forger’ Alexander Williams, also 46, to con the Allied Irish Bank and the Bank of Scotland on a vast scale.

The pair operated out of a Mayfair office as the Pacific Group of Companies as they carried out Britain’s biggest ever mortgage fraud.

They amassed a portfolio of 16 properties across the UK and an ex-passenger ferry they planned to transform into a super yacht using the banks money.

Kallakis was jailed for seven years while Williams was locked up for five years in January 2013 following a four-month trial at Southwark Crown Court.

Following a confiscation hearing in September 2014 Kallakis was ordered to pay back £3.25m within six months or face a default sentence of seven extra years.

Kallakis and Williams, were originally convicted of two counts of conspiracy to defraud banks by applying for loans on high value commercial property.

Among the buildings were the headquarters of the Daily Telegraph in Buckingham Palace Road, bought for £225m, and Lunar House, the Home Office’s asylum processing centre in Croydon, bought from Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz for £100m.

They also bought the 23-storey Market Towers in Vauxhall, from Simon and David Reuben for a reported £75m.

Williams was told to pay just £477,474.25 within six years or face another three years in prison at the last confiscation hearing in 2014.

The latest hearing continues.
ends