Women with mental illnesses are involved in property fraud, NOVA reports.
Ana Georgieva from Sofia works as a broker. Together with her friend Boris Belitz, they are accused of kidnapping, threatening to kill and causing bodily harm to a man, in order to force him to give them 85,000 leva from the sale of his house in Sofia. In the case, Ana is serving eight months in custody at the Sliven Prison, and then she is under house arrest for a year. Her friend is serving a sentence in the Central Sofia Prison on another charge. The two have already been reported in previous investigations. Two weeks after the broadcast of one, we received a call from Belitz, who was then undergoing treatment while serving his sentence in Kazichene.
On the phone, Belitz said that the report was making him popular, which he did not agree with. When asked why he was calling from a mobile phone, should he not be in the prison dormitory in Kazichene, he replied: “I should be Kazichene, but I am not”. And he addressed the following words to a NOVA journalist: “I want to see you, to understand each other. What you said is not very OK. It will not be OK for you either.”
Ana Georgieva's name also appears in another investigation into an apartment in Sofia, owned by a woman suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. Until 2019, 50-year-old Venelina lived with her husband and daughter in her apartment in the capital's "Hadji Dimitar" neighborhood. She worked as a hairdresser in her own salon. At one point, her relatives noticed a change in her behavior and consulted her with a psychiatrist.
Ivan Velkov, who is Venelina Velkova's brother, says: “She started having crises. She lit newspapers on the terrace, started saying that someone was talking in her ear, that she had embedded chips, that she was a CIA agent.”
A psychiatrist prescribed treatment, but Venelina did not take the medication. Thus, her condition worsened. For two months, she has been in compulsory treatment by court order and has been placed under limited guardianship.
Ivan Velkov also says that Venelina started having crises every day. Then they took her to a doctor, who determined that the woman had schizophrenia.
Due to her deteriorating health, the woman divorced her husband and closed her hair salon. Later, her relatives accidentally found out that her apartment in the capital's "Hadji Dimitar" neighborhood had been sold. This became clear when they went to pay the electricity bill and found that the account was already registered in another name.
“My mother kept the original notarial deed for the apartment, thinking that since it was hers, these things couldn't happen, but apparently they could. I go to the registry office, check, and they tell me that there was a deal in January,” says Ivan.
They hired a lawyer and filed a report with the prosecutor's office. They also started their own investigation. This is how they understand that Venelina authorized the broker Ana Georgieva to sell her apartment. According to the family, the sick woman thought she was signing documents to purchase a house in Greece, where she dreamed of living.
Ivan says that Ana found Venelina at the hair salon, “felt her sore spot” and said that she deals with real estate in Greece. He offered to buy her an apartment and a salon and live with her daughter there.
“She signed a power of attorney that she would sell her apartment. She authorized Ana Georgieva that she could do whatever she wanted with it”, Ivan adds and emphasizes that Venelina did not understand what she was doing.
So in September 2022, the broker Ana Georgieva, as Venelina's proxy, sold her apartment to a family from Sofia. The sick woman did not receive any money from the deal, her relatives claim.
The apartment is nearly 90 square meters, and at that time the price was about 180-200,000 euros, says the woman's brother.
„Venelina was not called to the notary, she did not know at all that there would be a deal and that she had signed documents for a deal with a power of attorney. She was told that she was signing a contract for the purchase of an apartment in Greece. And she, being in this state, is more naive and less understanding than a three-year-old child. Venelin does not take a single penny from the entire deal. The money was transferred in two tranches - 20,000 euros and 25,000 euros - to Ana's father Zhivko Georgiev,” says Ivan.
The Boychev family claims that they transferred about 50,000 leva to Venelina's account, and the rest to an account indicated by Ana Georgieva.
“To Venelina Velkova's account - 25,000 euros, and to Ana Georgieva's account - 85,000 euros”, explains Velislav Boychev, who is buying the apartment.
When asked why this huge amount was transferred to Georgieva, given that he plays the role of a broker, Venelin answers: “Because he had a power of attorney with all the declarations, notarized.”
The relatives of the sick woman and the people who bought the apartment are suing her. Whether Venelina will have to leave her home depends on the court's decision. The expert opinions in the civil case are categorical that she was not able to realize her actions.
Venelina Velkova's lawyer - Dimitar Tarpanov says: “A total of four forensic expert opinions have already been conducted. All four are categorical that since 2017 she has suffered from a mental illness. At the moment, the civil case has been won by our side at first instance. Currently, the first hearing is pending before the Sofia Court of Appeal - at second instance in the case. In this case, we even have two parties deceived, both the buyers and Venelina.”
Velislav Boychev points out that “according to documents, my wife and I are the owners, we have a notarial deed, I do not have keys”.
NOVA sought comment from broker Ana Georgieva. She sent a written response:
“Regarding Venelina Velkova, I categorically state that I am a victim. After her decision to sell her property, she began to provide me with all her debts that had to be paid before the sale. Debts to a large number of private bailiffs, “Toplofikatsiya”, Sofiyska Voda, Energosnabdyavane and NRA. These debts exceeded the amount of 40,000 leva and were paid mainly with my own funds via bank transfer. The sale price of the property was received in full by Venelina Velkova in two tranches. She feared that the funds would be blocked for other obligations of hers, which is why she sought my assistance by using my account to prevent forced executions. Venelina received the sale price in full, for which there are numerous documents and bank statements verifying this claim. All original documents constituting evidence were submitted with a protocol for voluntary surrender in the current pre-trial proceedings under the inventory of 05 RU SDVR.”
The Sofia District Prosecutor's Office explained that an investigation is underway in the case: “Pre-trial proceedings for fraud have been initiated in the case. In the course of the pre-trial proceedings, witnesses have been questioned so far, documents have been requested and submitted, a request for disclosure of bank secrecy has been submitted, information has been requested and submitted from the Sofia Municipality. After numerous instructions, the supervising prosecutor has established that the case was not conducted rhythmically and the instructions given by him were not implemented in a timely manner. For this reason, the case was seized by 5 regional departments and assigned to another regional department of the SDVR. After eliminating the delay, the investigation into the case continues and is at an advanced stage.”
The prosecutor's office is also investigating another case related to the broker Ana Georgieva. In it, an attempt was made to sell the apartment to a woman with early stages of Alzheimer's. Stoycho Stoynev noticed the apartment on a real estate website, and according to him, the ad was published by the broker Ana Georgieva.
„The apartment is located in the „Krasna Polyana” district, it is 65 square meters, for 115,000 euros. I went to view the apartment with my brother-in-law, where a gentleman who was a colleague of the aforementioned Ana Zhivkova Georgieva opened the door for us. We conducted the viewing and two days later I decided that I liked the apartment and decided to leave a deposit,” says Stoycho. The amount he was asked for as a deposit was 2,000 euros. He left the money with the broker Ana Zhivkova Georgieva.
Although the apartment was listed on a property sales website, the owner, Catherine, claims that she did not want to sell it. She also claims that she did not know that there would be an inspection. “I have nowhere to live,” says Catherine.
Stoycho points out that he was told that his wife was at work and could not attend the inspection. “The foreign gentleman in question was at the viewing, who introduced himself as her husband”, adds Stoycho.
Katrin's sister - Iliyana Drumcheva, whose apartment was sold, according to her, against her will, explained that for several years she has had the initial stages of Alzheimer's. She got lost and was hospitalized several times. “She needs treatment and medication, she is losing her orientation”, adds Iliyana.
The man who wanted to buy Katherine's apartment claims that he did not know about the woman's illness. He even signed a preliminary contract with her.
”She was more silent, more withdrawn, but there are all kinds of people. We met. After signing the contract, we congratulated each other on the deal," says Stoycho.
Before the deal was finalized, the broker Ana Georgieva asked him for money several times, the man claims.
“First they asked me for 2,000 euros as a stop deposit so that the ad could be taken down. Then we moved on to the preliminary contract, where I paid the commission, which was 3,000 euros. I paid 5,000 euros and 2,000 euros - both amounts were for repair work. After that, the remaining 10%, which was worth 16,700, was transferred. That makes a total of 20,500 euros. We signed contracts for the transfer of the money. We later found out that the contracts were with different companies that barely had the capital to pay anything,” Stoycho says.
A week before they went to the notary, it became clear that the seller, Catherine, had not produced the necessary documents to confirm the deal, and the notary, Zornitsa Todorova, refused to confirm it because she saw that Catherine had some kind of problem.
„As required by law, I made the necessary inquiries about the persons and the property. According to the law and the inquiries I made, the persons were not incapacitated. The buyer came to the office with two women posing as brokers and Catherine Petkova in an unsightly condition (she had no outerwear, despite the cold weather outside and was barefoot, but she still carried an ID card). Which aroused my suspicion that Catherine was in adequate condition. From the conversation with Catherine, I understood that there was a lack of understanding about the nature and legal consequences of the transaction, an inability to form and express a valid, free and conscious will and a lack of a suitable statement of will to dispose of real estate. After I categorically refused to conclude the transaction with the real estate, a tense atmosphere arose in the office”, writes Zornitsa Todorova.
“The notary, when she came out, said that something was not OK with this woman. That she did not see well. Catherine herself turned around and said: “I do not know who you are, I cannot sign documentation, I have no right. Something that is completely new”, says Stoycho.
And Catherine shares that the notary said that one should be careful and stated that she refused to deal with this transaction. ”That's exactly what she said - be careful, those were shown on television. They are such a mafia,” the woman adds.
That’s why Stoycho was unable to buy the apartment in question. He filed a report with the prosecutor’s office and hopes to get his money back.
„I spoke with Ana recently. She wanted me to sign an agreement for her, because apparently the police started to bother her. An agreement to return the money and that it was not her fault for the deal falling apart”, says Stoycho.
So far, broker Ana Georgieva has not returned the money to her client. Regarding the case of Catherine’s apartment, she sent NOVA the following response:
„I have only met Catherine Petkova twice in more than 7 months, while she wanted to sell her apartment. She was a client of another colleague. I have not taken on any clients. Despite the numerous inspections of her home, my client - Stoycho Stoynev, showed interest in the property and signed a preliminary contract by transferring a deposit to the personal bank account indicated by Catherine. After receiving the deposit, Catherine refused to sell the home, as well as to return the deposit received, even though the transaction was not carried out through her fault. I have received a commission from my client and I have been assigned repair work, for which we have duly drawn up and signed contracts. The relations between us are of a civil law nature and will be settled between us. As can be seen from the bank transfers and the signed contract, the only person who has benefited financially from this situation is Catherine. After 7 months of inspections and appropriate behavior in favor of the sale of her home, after seemingly legally receiving a significant amount, she realized that she had health problems.”
So far, broker Ana Georgieva has not returned the money to her client. The Sofia District Prosecutor's Office explained that an investigation was ordered into the case, which began at the beginning of last month. They added that in 2026, Ana Georgieva was brought to court on charges of two other frauds related to providing a deposit for the purchase and sale of real estate, thereby causing property damage to two individuals.