‘He didn’t care’: The slick Brighton property scammer whose high life came tumbling down

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Terence Rienzo Nugara plead guilty in the County Court to 37 charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception and two of theft.

The 50-year-old had the suit, the tie, the Porsche, the haircut and the air of a successful financial adviser and property developer. He posted images of himself luxuriating on yachts, racing high-performance cars and posing with a $400 bottle of Dom Perignon.He showed investors blue chip parcels of land in some of Melbourne’s most exclusive pockets – Malvern, Kew, Sandringham and Glen Iris – claiming they were under development and safe investments with huge returns.

With his millions, he took off overseas in 2019, living for three years between Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka and Singapore. The money he stole funded an extravagant lifestyle.“The money went on living expenses, lifestyle choices he made,” his barrister, Mark Sturges, told the court. “The money was spent on things such as his race cars, he was involved in race cars; a helicopter; boats; living expenses. It was offending, as it’s known in the courts, motivated by greed.

The court heard he tied up affairs overseas and returned to Australia, to be handcuffed by police at Melbourne Airport last October. “Nugara was a very confident, persuasive, smooth-talking man,” said one victim, whom this masthead has chosen not to name for privacy reasons. “He said this was a very good investment: low risk, huge profit, guaranteed returns.”

“I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere apology to all the people I’ve hurt and let down, and all of the lives that I’ve ruined by my actions. I’m sorry.”Another victim told the court that his wife’s super was gone, throwing them into a period of uncertainty and hardship when they were trying to prepare for retirement.

The court heard that Nugara used his position as representative of Financial Services Partners to convince clients to transfer to him millions of dollars, which he promised to invest in luxury serviced apartments.He had worked for Westpac and Commonwealth Bank before starting his own business, Skynet Financial Services, which shares a name with the fictional artificial intelligence system from the“There will have been opportunities for him to reflect on his conduct.

 

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