A highly controversial figure that emerged onto Greece’s populist-plagued national limelight over the recent period — by claiming to control or have access to up to 600 billion euros worth of bearer bonds — was handed a eight-year jail sentence on Friday for felony embezzlement.
The same sentence was handed down to Artemis Sorras’ wife by a court in the western port city of Patras, along with a five-year suspension of the pair’s right to vote or stand in elections in Greece.
Sorras’ claims of controlling the astronomical sum, something he has unflinchingly repeated in press interviews, was accompanied by promises to use the securities to pay off the Greek state’s debt. He also urged followers to use the “securities” as collateral to pay off their arrears to the state, statements that generated an avalanche of publicity, along with a backlash and judicial probes.
The conviction stems from two lawsuits: one filed by a one-time associate, who charged that Sorras defrauded him out of 100,000 euros when the two operated a children’s playroom business; and a separate lawsuit by another man — described as an in-law — who claimed he gave Sorras his luxury car to sell, and was in turn paid with invalid Kuwaiti dinars.
Sorras, who has also founded a quirky political vehicle known as the “Assembly of Greeks”, was convicted in absentia, as neither he nor his wife – or even a legal representative – was in court.
The neophyte political party collected a fee from new members, who were often initiated into the party by taking an oath to an Olympian god en masse, often at impromptu ceremonies held at well-known archaeological sites and monuments.
