He was Dr Raff to one woman, the man she went to as a gynaecologist and an expert in IVF. To another woman he bragged he had once been given a Ferrari as a gift for helping a patient become pregnant.

In all he told seven women the news they had long dreamed of – that they were pregnant.

IVF fraudster Raffaele Di Paolo outside court after an earlier hearing. Credit:Eddie Jim

He saw a further 23 people who were desperate to become parents and who, collectively, over hundreds of hours put their hopes in his hands, at his rooms in Brighton and St Kilda Road, Melbourne.

But it was all a sham. The women weren't pregnant.