A Columbia University psychiatry professor allegedly romanced a frail, retired Wall Streeter — then swindled him of $1.3 million so she could buy a home in Greece, his family claimed in a lawsuit.
Frank Watrous Hamilton III, then 72, was “vulnerable” after suffering a 2018 stroke “which had a debilitating effect on his mental and physical health,” his son said in Manhattan Supreme Court papers.
It’s unclear how he met Maria Karayiorgou, a professor emerita of psychiatry at the Ivy, but Hamilton’s son alleged the “accomplished psychiatrist” should have realized the Florida resident “was a frail, vulnerable, and disoriented, elderly man,” before launching into an intimate relationship when they met in 2021 or 2022.
“Dr. Karayiorgou was embedding herself into Hamilton’s life to take advantage of Hamilton’s impaired state, earn his trust, and manipulate him, with the goal being to take his assets for her benefit,” the family alleged in the lawsuit.
Hamilton, a father of two, had a nearly 50-year career on Wall Street and served as an executive at the financial services firm Promontory Interfinancial Network, which later became known as IntraFi.
The alleged age-gap honey trap saw Karayiorgou, then 57, flying from New York to Florida to spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Easter, and both of their birthdays with her love interest, the family claimed.
During several of these social gatherings, Hamilton referred to Karayiorgou as his fiancée or wife, according to the allegations.
While she whispered sweet nothings, the alleged golddigger had her sights set on a house in Athens, Greece, persistently requesting, pressuring and guilt-tripping Hamilton into footing the bill, the family contended.
After just a few months of love-bombing, Hamilton wired her $100,000 on April 4, 2022 and then $1.2 million on May 18, 2022 for the $1.3 million pad in Athens, Greece, they claimed in legal papers.
Though there was an unspoken agreement to put the house under both their names, Karayiorgou was listed as the sole owner, and then allegedly cut ties with Hamilton, they said in the court filing.
A lawyer for the family, who discovered the wire transfers after his Jan. 26, 2025 death, did not return messages seeking comment.
The Columbia professor — who studies the genetics of schizophrenia and has 146 published scientific papers that have received more than 16,876 citations in other papers, according to Science Direct — “intentionally exploited Hamilton’s vulnerabilities and used her position of trust and confidence to influence” him, his family alleged.
She is currently listed as the Acting Chief of the Division of Medical Genetics in the Department of Psychiatry at the Morningside Heights institution.
Karayiorgou, who owned a $1.7 million dollar home in the tony Riverdale section of the Bronx, records show, could not immediately be reached for comment.
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