He put the “con” in concierge.
An alleged hotel-bed-surfing swindler has rooked dozens of victims in four states by claiming he can get them discounted premium accommodations in Manhattan and South Beach — but then would stay in the fancy rooms himself, on his victims’ dime, prosecutors said today.
Accused phony concierge Robert Giuliano was a regular guest at W Hotel, Westin, Mercer Hotel, Four Points and St. Regis, among others, before his “Giuliano Group Concierge” scheme unraveled, according to the charges against him.
He’d promise victims in New York, California, North Carolina and Massachusetts access to everything from Fashion Week events to the presidential inaugural ball, prosecutors said.
But when victims realized Giuliano had been living large on their credit cards, the alleged fraudster would make a million false excuses, prosecutors told a judge today — including that his “wife” was on chemotherapy, that he had suffered a death in his family or, most oddly, that he had been “kidnapped.”
Giuliano, 37, kept his deluxe-accommodations lifestyle afloat Ponzi-style, prosecutors said, allegedly paying previous victims off with money stolen from new victims.
He was first busted last May — as he left Union Square’s W Hotel — on charges he stole from just two victims. The new charges involving multiple additional witnesses were announced today as he pleaded not guilty to identity theft, scheme to defraud and grand larceny before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Laura Ward.
“Every address the defendant has provided to law enforcement has either been fake, outdated, a hotel, or a rented dropbox or virtual office space,” lead prosecutor Laura Millendorf told the judge of Giulliano’s 14-year history of fraud arrests, in arguing for a bail hike.
Giuliano — who argued through his lawyer that some of his clients are actually quite happy — is being held in lieu of $750,000 bail.