ETOBICOKE: Family defrauded of over $1 million
"It's a fascinating case, really. He posed as an airline pilot, as a professional soccer player, and he'd drive around in his BMW in a pilot's uniform he bought at a store," Fraud Squad Det. Const. Steve Lamplugh said of the man, who is currently facing 61 fraud-related charges.
"He played the high roller role really well - that's how fraudsters work. The people around him, his family, were like 'wow, I wanna live like that, too,' and so they gave him money and he just kept upping the ante."
Dating back to November 2003, the accused is alleged to have defrauded his entire family - including both his parents, his parents-in-law, his brother-in-law, his former common-law wife and her father - out of hundreds of thousands of dollars through a bogus Swiss investment scam, including the opening of numerous credit cards in each of his victims' names.
He is further accused of amassing huge debts in his victims' names - leading to his parents to lose their Muncey Avenue home in Etobicoke, where he once live, Lamplugh said.
"The figure is at least $1 million, but some of the victims put the figure at closer to $3 or 4 million," Lamplugh said, noting that he can't verify an exact dollar amount because some of the victims weren't held accountable for the losses by their banks. "But he told me himself that at any one given time, he'd have half a million dollars. He was living the high life."
Lamplugh said the suspect's close-knit Italian family was hesitant to turn him in initially, but ultimately had no other option lest they have to shoulder the massive debts themselves. Police had been seeking the suspect for several weeks before he turned himself in.
"He was missing for a while; we don't know where he was. He said he was staying with a friend, but we think he was hiding out from us," Lamplugh said. "I guess he finally got tired of us harassing all his friends, though, because he called me yesterday and turned himself in."
Mike Digiulio, 38, of Toronto, is charged with five counts of fraud over $5,000; 20 counts of personation with intent; 25 counts of possess credit card obtained by crime; theft of a credit card.
He is scheduled to appear in court at College Park on Monday, Aug. 25, at 2 p.m.
"It's a strange case, sad but comical too," Lamplugh said. "You look at this guy and he's not really the kind of guy you'd give thousands of dollars to - but I guess that's how those guys operate."
