British MIllionaire Guilty In Caretaker Murder

September 7, 2009 12:51 p.m. EST

London (AHN) - A British playboy who once hosted a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton at his Florida home has been convicted in the 2000 murder of a caretaker who stood in the way of a multi-million property deal.

Thanos Papalexis, 37, was found guilty of murdering Charalambos Christodoulides at a warehouse in northwest London in March 2000. The jury failed to reach verdicts on two Albanian men, Ylli Xhelo and Robert Baxhija, who also had been charged in the murder,

Christodoulides, 55, was a caretaker at the warehouse, where he lived in an apartment. Prosecutors alleged that Papalexis killed the caretaker after the older man refused to move from his apartment so that Papalexis could close on a 2.3 million pound sale of the building.

The caretaker's body was found two weeks later in a garage inspection pit at the warehouse after his family had reported him missing.

The property transaction was never completed, court testimony revealed, and Papalexis moved to Florida. There, he set up three fractional ownership clubs in Miami and Palm Beach. Members paid a $200,000 initiation fee to have access to Rolls Royces, private jets, a mansion in Palm Beach, and a private island in the Bahamas.

In 2007, Papalexis hosted a fundraiser for then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at his home in Manalapan, Florida.

Papalexis was arrested in Palm Beach in November.

Testimony during the trial included that of Rebecca DeFalco, an adult film star and paid escort. She told the court that Papalexis confessed the murder to her in 2004 in a Palm Beach hotel.

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 30. Papalexis could receive life in prison.