20 October 2023 03:49 pm
A Sri Lankan-born Melbourne financial planner, Terence Rio Rienzo Nugara, accused of pilfering about $10 million from the superannuation funds of vulnerable clients, pleaded guilty in the County Court last month to 37 charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception and two of theft, Australia’s The Age news agency reported.
On September 26, he pleaded guilty in the County Court to 37 charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception and two of theft. As a result of his deception, he stole a total of $10,152, 061 from 38 Australian victims.
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.”
In Mexico, Nugara sought new investors in an online gambling platform, but he was kidnapped in an extortion attempt. He sought help from the Australian embassy, where he learned about the warrant for his arrest.
The court heard he tied up affairs overseas and returned to Australia, to be handcuffed by police at Melbourne Airport last October.
Nugara encouraged investors to convert their superannuation to self-managed super funds, giving them flexibility to invest in his property deals.
Between September 2014 and January 2018, police said, he transferred money from the accounts of 38 victims into his own personal accounts to use for his personal gain.
He is currently incarcerated at the Ravenhall Correctional Centre and has served 336 days of pre-sentence detention. He did not have a previous criminal record.
Melbourne Magistrates’ Court heard in October last year that Terence Rio Rienzo Nugara allegedly used his position as representative of Financial Services Partners to convince friends and clients to transfer him millions of dollars, which he promised to invest in luxury serviced apartments.
Nugara is to be sentenced in October.