A doctor from south-west Victoria who defrauded patients of more than $800,000 to support his gambling habit has been jailed.
Abraham Stephanson, 50, received three years' jail with a non-parole period of 18 months in the County Court of Victoria on Tuesday.
The former Seaport Medical Centre doctor admitted to using his father's terminal cancer diagnosis to persuade his victims to loan him money.
Stephanson did not give any of the dishonestly obtained money to his father and instead used the majority for online gambling.
Stephanson accepted payments from 18 patients and a pharmacy employee between 2019 and 2020 ranging between $5,000 to $120,000.
He repaid $190,418 prior to his arrest.
More than $620,000 remained outstanding as of August this year, including to a victim who had since passed away.
Patients feel 'betrayed'
Some of Stephanson's victims had been seeing him as their physician for a decade and were aged in their 80s.
The court heard he would obtain the loans by reaching out to individuals and couples via email and texts to ask for the money.
In most cases, the texts and emails were almost identical, though some would say his father's treatment was in China, and others would say America or Israel.
He would provide loan agreements that did not have any terms or conditions, outlining his intention to repay the funds. The victims would agree and transfer him the money.
The court heard Stephanson would then send the money to a sports betting website fund account. In one instance he used it to pay his mortgage.
Some victims gave their life savings or superannuation.
In victim impact statements read aloud in the court, 19 victims spoke of feeling "betrayed", "violated" and "angry" about what had happened.
Almost all of the victims said they did not think they would ever trust properly again.
One patient in a victim impact statement said she had agreed to help because her own father had died of cancer.
She also said she felt "sick to the stomach that they were so foolish".
The court heard another victim's wife was gravely ill at the time of the offending, and that Stephanson's deception caused her "much distress" during the last months of her life.
A male victim has since passed away too.
Another victim was a soon-to-be retiree who withdrew money from his superannuation.
Crimes a 'gross breach of trust' says judge
Judge George Georgiou described Stephanson's offending as a "gross breach of trust".
"It is clear that your conduct has had a profound impact on each of your victims," he said.
"The word 'trust' features in just about all the impact statements of victims who feel betrayed, and some feel gullible and foolish in taking you at your word."
