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A business owned by an Australian rich-lister with a personal fortune well above $50 million is suspected of laundering money for the Comanchero bikie gang, according to a NSW Police intelligence report.
Police relied on the intelligence after the founder sued to recover a wad of cash and his mobile phone, which he said was worth $500,000 a month to the business.
Officers seized the goods after pulling over the founder, whose car they found at a standstill in a confusing intersection near Double Bay in Sydney’s east, about 1.30am on October 2.
In a backpack, they discovered a bundle of $50 notes held together by a rubber band, totalling $8450, which an officer said raised suspicion of a drug offence.
“I pay $6 million in taxes,” the founder, who cannot be identified legally, replied. “Me sell drugs is absurd. It’s absolutely absurd.” The company’s general manager, who was a passenger in the car, described the money as petty cash used to pay actors for a social media photoshoot.
The business is the biggest brand of its kind in Australia, the NSW Supreme Court heard. The founder has featured on a reputable newspaper’s “Rich List” and bought a home for well over $10 million. Searching the car was authorised because of a Firearm Prohibition Order issued to the founder in 2020, the court heard.
“You are associated with Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs,” stated the order, which referenced a drug possession offence and a past apprehended violence order. A constable on the scene also used a police database to access a recent intelligence report about the founder’s company.
“It’s highly likely that [Company X] is involved in [organised crime network] money laundering,” it said. Police had information suggesting the business was “used by the Comancheros as a front”.
The intelligence report said that after 13 “persons of interest” visited the company’s business address in September, a staff member was admitted to hospital with an injury he blamed on a fight club. The founder had declined to assist with police inquiries.
The police who pulled his car over kept his phone, which he had given them to show his digital driver’s licence. “You’ll hear from my lawyer, bro,” he said.
His lawyers asked police not to extract any data from the device and applied to the court for its urgent return, arguing that the phone was vital to the business as it was used as a two-factor authenticator to process transactions.
Justice Sarah McNaughton found on October 22 that the firearm search powers did not allow police to seize other items found incidentally. The judge found there was insufficient evidence to ground a reasonable belief that a serious offence had been committed.
McNaughton also rejected a police claim that having to seek a crime scene warrant in similar circumstances would “lead to the complete paralysis of operational policing”. NSW Police was ordered to hand back the phone and cash, which the judge accepted was to pay for photoshoot expenses.
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