A Columbia College psychiatry professor allegedly romanced a frail, retired Wall Streeter — then swindled him of $1.3 million so she may purchase a house in Greece, his household claimed in a lawsuit.
Frank Watrous Hamilton III, then 72, was “weak” after struggling a 2018 stroke “which had a debilitating impact on his psychological and bodily well being,” his son mentioned in Manhattan Supreme Courtroom papers.
It’s unclear how he met Maria Karayiorgou, a professor emerita of psychiatry on the Ivy, however Hamilton’s son alleged the “achieved psychiatrist” ought to have realized the Florida resident “was a frail, weak, and disoriented, aged man,” earlier than launching into an intimate relationship after they met in 2021 or 2022.
$1.3 million to buy a house in Greece, in response to a brand new lawsuit. Columbia College
“Dr. Karayiorgou was embedding herself into Hamilton’s life to reap the benefits of Hamilton’s impaired state, earn his belief, and manipulate him, with the aim being to take his belongings for her profit,” the household alleged within the lawsuit.
Hamilton, a father of two, had an almost 50-year profession on Wall Road and served as an government on the monetary providers agency Promontory Interfinancial Community, which later grew to become often called IntraFi.
The alleged age-gap honey entice noticed Karayiorgou, then 57, flying from New York to Florida to spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Yr, Easter, and each of their birthdays together with her love curiosity, the household claimed.
Throughout a number of of those social gatherings, Hamilton referred to Karayiorgou as his fiancée or spouse, in response to the allegations.
Whereas she whispered candy nothings, the alleged golddigger had her sights set on a home in Athens, Greece, persistently requesting, pressuring and guilt-tripping Hamilton into footing the invoice, the household contended.
After only a few months of love-bombing, Hamilton wired her $100,000 on April 4, 2022 after which $1.2 million on Could 18, 2022 for the $1.3 million pad in Athens, Greece, they claimed in authorized papers.
stroke left him “weak” and “disoriented,” the go well with claimed. Millennium Cremation Service
Although there was an unstated settlement to place the home underneath each their names, Karayiorgou was listed as the only proprietor, after which allegedly lower ties with Hamilton, they mentioned within the court docket submitting.
A lawyer for the household, who found the wire transfers after his Jan. 26, 2025 loss of life, didn’t return messages searching for remark.
The Columbia professor — who research the genetics of schizophrenia and has 146 revealed scientific papers which have acquired greater than 16,876 citations in different papers, in response to Science Direct — “deliberately exploited Hamilton’s vulnerabilities and used her place of belief and confidence to affect” him, his household alleged.
She is presently listed because the Appearing Chief of the Division of Medical Genetics within the Division of Psychiatry on the Morningside Heights establishment.
Karayiorgou, who owned a $1.7 million greenback dwelling within the tony Riverdale part of the Bronx, data present, couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
