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The curly haired Greek had the tongue...

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Times Staff Writer

The curly haired Greek had the tongue of a poet, one of his admirers wrote. When he spoke, women believed.

They believed that he was struggling to free himself from the influence of wealthy parents who owned property in France, Greece and the United States.

They believed that he was taking only a temporary leave from his well-paying job as a pilot for Air France.

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And they believed when he promised to repay the hundreds of thousands of dollars that he had borrowed while the women were falling in love with him. They believed because, after all, he had promised that they would marry.

As it turned out, the women’s faith was ill-placed. George Stassinopoulos, 33, late of Athens, Paris, Marseille and New York, also known as George Boulvier and Philipos Niarchos, was never a scion of wealth or an airline pilot. In his hometown in Greece, his father is a retired policeman and his mother a teacher.

Their son is now a felon.

On Friday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aurelio Munoz sentenced Stassinopoulos to five years in state prison for fleecing two Southern California women out of more than $300,000. He had earlier pleaded no contest to two counts of grand theft.

One of the victims, a divorced real estate broker in her late 20s, was forced into bankruptcy. The other, a widow who had inherited money when her husband died, had to sell her home.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office knows of at least 10 other victims in Los Angeles, New York and Greece who gave Stassinopoulos thousands of dollars after he professed his love, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Judy L. Gray, who prosecuted the case.

Most were too humiliated to press charges, she said, while others are beyond the jurisdiction of California courts.

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Gray said she suspects there may be many other victims in the United States and abroad. She said she has no idea how much Stassinopoulos netted over the years from his labors of love.

“The most dangerous aspect of the whole setup by George is his use of ‘love’ to gain the trust and control of his victims,” the real estate broker wrote in a letter to a county probation officer.

“There isn’t a romantic novel to date that has been published that could compete with George’s emotional outpourings of love, affection and sensitivity to life,” she added.

“I consider that George murdered me and just forgot to do away with the body.”

Stassinopoulos, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs about 200 pounds, met his victims in what they believed were chance encounters, outside an office or by incorrectly dialing a telephone number.

Gray said she believes Stassinopoulos researched his targets but said her office has no evidence that supports her hunch.

Once introduced, Stassinopoulos went to work with a vengeance.

‘Extremely Articulate’

“George is an extremely articulate man, and his use of the English language and its idioms is both explicit and poetic,” the second victim wrote.

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“He uses the ability to express plans and dreams that eventually wear down resistance and cloud logic to the fact that he is not contributing anything financially during the . . . relationship.”

She added, “That a person like George really exists is inconceivable to the vast majority of women in the world who are looking for love and a companion.”

Stassinopoulos arrived in the Los Angeles area from France in 1980, according to the probation report, almost immediately initiating a relationship with the widow. While living with her, he began courting the real estate broker.

Lived Lavishly

Stassinopoulos spent virtually all of the money he received on Porsches and Jaguars, expensive jewelry, luxury hotels, the finest meals and first-class travel between the United States and Europe, according to Gray and the probation report.

He frequently used the money he received from one woman to impress other women with his affluence, Gray said.

On one occasion, he invited the real estate broker, who lives in Manhattan Beach, to a barbecue at an exclusive Glendale home that Stassinopoulos said was owned by his parents. The house in fact belonged to the widow with whom Stassinopoulos was living. When the broker finally discovered that deception last summer, she contacted the district attorney’s office.

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Despite his misdeeds, Stassinopoulos still has his supporters. Two women who have paid his attorney’s fees since his arrest in August were in court Friday to watch the sentencing. Both, unbeknownst to the other, have told authorities that they are in love with Stassinopoulos and plan to marry him.

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