In Sydney, Australia, developer’s daughter pleads guilty in $150m loan case
In Sydney, Australia, 32-year-old Ashlyn Nassif pleaded guilty to providing false or misleading information to obtain a $150m Westpac loan. The funds were used to build three residential towers in north-west Sydney in 2021.
As The Guardian reports, Nassif pleaded guilty in June. During hearings at Burwood Local Court, her lawyer Murugan Thangaraj said she had been pressured into these actions by her father, Jean Nassif, the former head of construction company Toplace.
Defence position
According to the lawyer, before leaving Australia, Jean Nassif told his daughter that he desperately needed the Westpac loan. The defence argued that Ashlyn Nassif agreed to actions she should not have taken because of pressure from her father.
Thangaraj also referred to testimony from Jean Nassif’s former wife, who spoke about decades of coercive control in the relationship. In the lawyer’s view, this corresponded to Nassif’s treatment of his daughter.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
The prosecution said Ashlyn Nassif knew that Toplace buyers and contractors did not meet the definition of parties to a transaction acting at arm’s length. The defence disagreed.
Investigation into Jean Nassif
Jean Nassif left Australia for rural Lebanon in 2022. New South Wales police are seeking him following a two-year fraud investigation, and an arrest warrant has been issued for him. According to the publication, 57 companies linked to Toplace are under administrators’ management.
The New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption is investigating allegations that influential state Liberal Party representatives may have received $2m from Jean Nassif in breach of the state’s election funding law. Nassif previously denied wrongdoing. Ashlyn Nassif’s sentencing was scheduled for Monday afternoon.
