Former Destination Club Executive Thanos Papalexis Found Guilty of Murder

By: Destination Club News
Date: September 8, 2009

Following a three month trial that included testimonies from a prostitute and a "classic psycho" and grizzly details about the torture and murder of a 55 year old man, an 11 person jury has rendered their unanimous decision after four days of deliberations concerning the fate of former destination club executive Thanos Papalexis: Guilty.

In November of last year, Papalexis was arrested in West Palm Beach and subsequently extradited to the United Kingdom to face trial for the 2000 murder of Charalambos Christodoulides. According to the prosecution, Papalexis was looking to sell a £2 million warehouse in northern London where Christodoulides was living. With Christodoulides refusing to vacate his flat, Papalexis was reportedly losing $120,000 per week in interest.

The prosecution would allege that Papalexis and two accomplices would tie Christodoulides to a chair, torturing and ultimately strangling the 55 year old before drenching the body in paint thinner to be dumped in a mechanic's pit. Contracts were exchanged regarding the property the day that Christodoulides went missing. The prosecution would proclaim that they could link Papalexis to the crime through fingerprints, DNA on cigarette butts, and cellular phone records placing the three defendants at the warehouse at the time of the murder. "It appears that the victim was condemned to die for no better reason than he was not prepared to leave his home," said prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw.

During the three month trial, the most damning testimony may have came from Rebecca DeFalco, a Miami-based escort who Papalexis contacted following an internet ad she placed in April of 2004. According to DeFalco, Papalexis described himself as a "James Bond" type who had spied for both the American and British governments, working for the CIA, MI6, and the US National Security Agency. Papalexis would eventually confess to DeFalco that he had strangled "a nobody" who "had got in the way." When she directly asked about this event, she stated Papalexis said "Yes, I strangled someone. There were two people with me. This man was giving me problems. It happened in London."

Papalexis's rebuttal was that he had "regaled her with stories which would make a screenwriter envious" and never mentioned anything about Christodoulides. "I told her about missions, explosions, car chases, gun battles in the desert, stories that you would see in a movie but nothing to do with the murder of a 55-year-old gentleman in a warehouse in London."

The information disclosed by DeFalco and others certainly did not paint Papalexis as an upstanding individual in the community, saying that she "fell hard" for Papalexis, the son of a Greek shipping magnate, during their three month relationship. According to testimony, DeFalco was given lump sums of $2,500 to stop seeing other clients and was paid to have sex with other men while Papalexis watched and filmed. Papalexis cheated on his wife with several women the court heard, paying for cosmetic surgery for four different women and hosting "wild sex parties" at mansions he had rented. After Papalexis admitted to the murder to DeFalco, a friend of Papalexis told her that Thanos had been taken prisoner in Iraq. DeFalco would write to President Bush for help but Papalexis was in Palm Beach working on one of his ventures. When she contacted Papalexis later to reveal that she was fighting cancer, he replied with "Bon Voyage."

On Friday, the jury returned their verdict of guilty in regards to Papalexis's involvement. The jury failed to reach verdicts on the two accomplices, Albanian illegal immigrants Robert Baxhiji and Ylli Xhelo.

"Born with all the advantages of wealth, he has led a life based not only on deceit, false promises and failure," said prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw. "But at times on complete fantasy."

The deceit and false promises followed Papalexis to America where he was a focal point for three luxury travel clubs, notably Grand Legacy Club and Vita Luxury. These two pseudo-destination clubs would provide members with access to world-class mansions, private jets, exotic automobiles and watercraft all under one membership. Neither were able to generate any momentum and Papalexis and other executives were quickly pursued by creditors.

Sentencing is scheduled to take place later this month. Check back soon to learn more about the fate of Thanos Papalexis.