Vita Luxury's Thanos Papalexis Waives Extradition

By: Destination Club News
Date: November 25, 2008

Thanos Papalexis, a representative for the now defunct Vita Luxury and other destination clubs, has waived his right to extradition and will return to the United Kingdom to face murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges stemming from an event in March of 2000.

Allegedly, Papalexis and two other men savagely murdered Charalambos Christodoulides who was costing Papalexis $120,000 per week by not vacating a warehouse Papalexis was purchasing. Christodoulides was found beaten and strangled at the bottom of a mechanics' pit. His body had been doused with lighter fluid according to reports.

According to reports, Papalexis' fingerprints and DNA have been discovered at the scene and he has been linked to the crime through "telephone records, legal documents, and forensic evidence."

In the extradition hearing on Monday, Papalexis stated, "These charges are ludicrous." Papalexis also added that he is anxious to return to the UK and fight the charges levied against him. Richard Lubin, an attorney and friend of Papalexis, believes the case against the former Vita Luxury representative is "extremely weak."

Prior to the Papalexis murder arrest, he was part of several luxury travel clubs, including Vita Luxury. Earlier this year, Papalexis offered The Veras Group his opinion on why Vita Luxury closed.

"Our decision to put the project on hold was directly correlated to the management team having depleted the infused investment capital whilst also not satisfying minimum required reservations to accommodate a launch, something that is indicative of either bad salesmanship on behalf of the company's sales team or marketing strategy or alternatively market conditions."

More than $2 million in judgments have been awarded to parties claiming damages against the various clubs attached to Papalexis.

According to Sam Smargon, Papalexis' public defender, United Kingdom officials will now be in charge of transferring him back to England, a process that could take up to two weeks.