Doctor hungry for love pays $3.75m to lonely hearts scammers

Neil Wallman. Photo / Supplied

An Australian gynaecologist's search for love left him bankrupt and heartbroken after a A$3 million ($3.75 million) lonely hearts club scam.

Neil Wallman's tragic story of betrayal was revealed in the New South Wales Supreme Court, revolving around a Gold Coast dating agency, a mysterious blonde and a fabricated hunt through Croatia and the Philippines.

The case, reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, was described by Justice Michael Pembroke as "so fantastic as to strain credulity" and began when Wallman, recently divorced, began looking for romance in 2007.

Hearts United, a dating agency run by Paul Mladenis and his wife Snezanna, was all too keen to help.

For a mere A$200,000, Hearts United introduced Wallman to an exotic Chinese-Australian blonde called Lily Bolivique who, the SMH reported, rapidly became as infatuated as the Gosford doctor.

Eager to further the romance, Mladenis suggested Wallman buy a A$100,000 special VIP package to cover the costs of the couple's wedding and honeymoon should they decide to marry. "Mate, things are going well for you and Lily," the SMH reported Mladenis as telling Wallman. "[The package] will give you peace of mind."

Rather than flying from Queensland to meet Wallman as arranged, however, Bolivique deferred the visit because her father was sick in Melbourne then, several days later, asked for a A$200,000 loan to "release funds from my father's finances in Croatia".

The SMH reported that Mladenis vouched for Bolivique, and Wallman handed the money over.

Over the next 18 months Mladenis and Bolivique squeezed more than A$2 million from Wallman who the SMH said was later found to be Hearts United's only client.

While Wallman moved to the Gold Coast and waited for love, the agency's principals splurged A$526,000 on cars including a Porsche for Mladenis, a Lamborghini for his wife, a Lexus and a BMW. They also bought a A$633,000 property.

Meanwhile, Bolivique vanished. The SMH reported that Mladenis told Wallman she had "done a runner back to Croatia" after borrowing money from him.

It said Wallman was told he would have to launch legal proceedings at his own expense, and Mladenis flew to Croatia to meet lawyers and text requests for cash to Wallman.

Bolivique was then said to have flown to Manila in the Philippines, pursued by Mladenis, who told Wallman by text he was "chasing down that bitch".

By March this year Wallman had been declared bankrupt. Pembroke concluded the affair had been cooked up to extract money from a lonely, gullible man, the SMH said. He directed that all of the money paid by Wallman, other than the initial A$200,000, be repaid to his bankruptcy trustee.