Portland doctor sells home as patient losses exceed $800k in fraud case

Abraham Stephanson, previously Stephanopoulos, 50, pleaded guilty in Melbourne County Court on Monday to dishonestly obtaining financial advantage.

The court heard he accepted $20,000 from a male patient in mid June 2020, which he said would fund his father's life-saving cancer treatment but actually spent it on betting.

It comes after the man pleaded guilty to more than a dozen similar charges in May.

The former Seaport Medical Centre doctor accepted payments from 18 patients and one local pharmacy employee between October 2019 and December 2020.

The payments ranged from $5000 to $120,000.

He also attempted to obtain $25,000 in funds but was unsuccessful.

The victims were told Stephanson was funding his father's cancer treatment in America, Israel or China.

But not a cent went to his dad with the majority transferred into his Betfair online gambling account.

Monday's plea saw the financial loss to Stephanson's victims climb to $812,000.

The GP repaid $190,418 prior to his arrest.

More than $620,000 remains outstanding.

Some elderly and vulnerable patients gave their life savings or superannuation to their doctor of more than a decade.

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Stephanson's father told police he was undergoing cancer treatment but never asked his son for financial help.

On Monday, Abbie J Roodenburg, representing Stephanson, said although her client wasn't asked to help, he felt obliged.

She said other family members and friends had offered to help and that a Go Fund Me account had been created by colleagues to raise money for the treatment.

Ms Roodenburg said her client had since worked hard to renovate his home, which was located on a four-acre 1870s heritage garden in Portland, in order to sell it and use the profits to compensate his victims.

The property sold on July 5 for $1.57 million. Ms Roodenburg said Stephanson's efforts weren't "about him trying to buy his way out of trouble" and that he always intended to repay his victims.

But she said the value of the property had dropped by about $130,000 after the advertisement was taken down for some time on police request due to a restraining order.

She said over $800,000 was still owed on the mortgage and her client understood there would be "barely enough" to repay the victims and "certainly nothing left" for Stephanson and his family.

Ms Roodenburg said Stephanson's medical registration was suspended and he was unable to work in a similar field.

She said her client was surviving on government benefits and family help.

Prosecutor Jessica Fallar said Stephanson entered into loan agreements with a number of patients, using a medical stamp to sign the forms and meeting them at his GP clinic.

She said the man was gambling "significantly" at the height of the offending and there was no reasonable belief he intended to repay the funds immediately when on some occasions, he gambled the funds within 24 hours.

The plea hearing will continue on August 2. The court is expected to hear from Stephanson's father on that day.

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