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A Victorian woman who conned her own cousin out of nearly $400,000 for a fake house and land has been jailed for more than five years.
Angela Liberatore, 50, convinced her cousin Jessica Lacivita in March 2014 that she was selling residential investment properties on behalf of developers and receiving commissions.
He recommended Lacivita and her husband Peter Koukas buy a development in Queensland and allegedly loaned them the $188,000 needed to purchase the land.
The couple paid him $1000 and obtained financing from NAB to begin paying off the rest of the debt, issuing Liberatore a check for $127,500 from the bank.
Angela Liberatore, 50, convinced her cousin Jessica Lacivita in March 2014 that she was selling residential investment properties on behalf of developers and receiving commissions.
Liberatore told them that development should be finished in December 2016 and showed them fake emails as proof.
He was paid another $35,000 between 2015 and 2016.
In May 2016, Liberatore told the couple that the builder needed another $200,000 to build the house on their land.
She helped them apply for an additional loan through NAB and wrote a $200.00 check to their Luxury Home Designs business in June 2016.
In mid-2017, Lacivita began contacting her cousin for updates on the investment.
Liberatore told him that it had been delayed due to the cyclones and then claimed that the developer had gone into liquidation, saying that nothing could be done and that the $372,400 they invested was missing.
She told the couple not to contact her again and they reported the incident to police in October 2017.
The couple never recovered the money they gave Liberatore.
The 50-year-old continues to deny the offence, even after a county court jury found her guilty in July 2023 of 33 counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception and two counts of obtaining property by deception.
In sentencing Liberatore on Thursday, Judge Douglas Trapnell described his crimes as “callous” and noted the “remarkably deleterious” effect he had on Lacivita and Koukas.
The couple never recovered the money they gave Liberatore, and their victim impact statements describe how they felt desperate, hurt and betrayed.
The judge reflected on the couple’s victim impact statements, which described how they felt hopeless, hurt and betrayed.
Judge Trapnell also noted that Liberatore’s mental health had worsened since his offending became public, but did not accept that he was likely to deteriorate further in prison.
It also noted his criminal record, which included a large number of convictions for dishonesty-related offences.
“Your criminal record demonstrates… a continued attitude of disobedience to the law,” Judge Trapnell said.
“Therefore, in your case you need to place a lot of importance on community-specific deterrence and protection.”
Liberatore was sentenced to five years and three months in prison, but will be eligible for parole after three years and eight months.
He has already served 204 days of detention.