Marios Iliopoulos (Greek businessman)

Marios Iliopoulos (Greek: Μάριος Ηλιόπουλος) is a Greek shipowner and businessman. He is the co-founder and owner of Greek ferry company Seajets.^[4][5] He is also known for his involvement in the Brillante Virtuoso case, in which the High Court of London ruled in 2019 that he orchestrated the destruction of an oil tanker in 2011, disguised as a pirate attack, in order to make a fraudulent insurance claim.^[6][7] Iliopoulos was arrested in London in 2016 on suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud in connection with the case but was subsequently released without being charged.^[8]

Marios Iliopoulos was born on 18 September 1969, son of Panagiotis and Despoina. He was one of three boys in the family, his two brothers were Yiannis (who died in 2017) and Antonis.^[9]

Iliopoulos grew up in Psychiko a suburb of Athens, and attended Athens College.^[10] His father Panagiotis had been involved in gold trading.^[11] From 1988 he was involved in passenger shipping and in 1989, together with his son, Mario, co-founded Seajets.^[12]

In 1989 Marios Iliopoulos alongside his father Panagiotis co-founded Greek ferry company Seajets. Seajets is now one of Greece's leading high speed ferry companies.

As of 2024, his company Seajets fleet consists 30 highspeed ferries, 6 conventional ferries and 4 cruise ships.^[13]

On 10 June 2024, Iliopoulos bought Greek football team AEK Athens F.C.. The fee of the take over is estimated to be in the range of €90 million.^[14]

Iliopoulos is the majority shareholder with a 85,03% stake of the club.^[15] At the press conference Iliopoulos stated, “I will give my soul, my mind… my whole being to conquer titles”.^[16]

Since Iliopoulos took over the club, Iliopoulos has brought marquee players to the club such as Anthony Martial, Erik Lamela and Roberto Pereyra, breaking club record contract fees.

On October 12th 2024, Iliopoulos became a minority shareholder in Italian football club Juventus owning a 3.5% stake of the club. Iliopoulos reportedly paid around €32-€34 million to acquire his shares.^[17]

On 6 July 2011, the tanker ship Brillante Virtuoso was damaged beyond repair in what the High Court of London ruled was insurance fraud orchestrated and instigated by Marios Iliopoulos, disguised as a pirate attack.^[18] An investigator into the matter, David Mockett, was killed by a car bomb in what has been described as a targeted assassination after he had made clear that he disagreed with Iliopoulos' insurance claim.^[19][20]

It was also found that another tanker owned by Iliopoulos, Elli, was similarly written off after a fire two years prior with the same salvage companies and chief engineer in charge of that recovery operation as were in charge of the Brillant Virtuoso.^[21]