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Fraud financed lavish life of 'Saudi prince'
When Hasan Bulli went to school in Melbourne's western suburbs after immigrating with his family from Turkey, his mates called him "The Prince". But this boy from Broadmeadows soon got sick of his humble beginnings, lack of academic success and struggling business ventures. He decided to try and live out his childhood fantasy. At 33, he changed his named to Omar Jihad Yusuf, gave himself an honorary title of Saudi Arabian prince, created his own stamps and even a royal seal. He then used his grandiose appearance to prey on local Muslim families and fleece more than 100 people of $7 million through a fraudulent investment scheme. Yusuf - who today pleaded guilty to 126 counts of fraud - convinced 109 people to give him up to $36,000 each to invest in his trucking company. The Victorian Supreme Court heard the 40-year-old set himself up a prestigious Collins Street office and told potential investors he was the head of a global business empire that turned over $650 million annually. Prosecutors say the father-of-five convinced 109 people to sign over $36,000 to buy trucks for his transport company and lured them through the multitude of propaganda that he was a wealthy Saudi Arabian Prince. Yusuf boasted that he owned a number of banks, three islands off the Australian coast, petrol refineries, a coffee plantation in Africa, a film production company and an Islamic clothing factory in Malaysia to get investors to sign up. He dummied up invoices to look like he had purchased an $8 million passenger ferry and a $27 million plane. The 40-year-old told a Melbourne Turkish newspaper he also had fishing fleets, chemical laboratories, two private planes, two helicopters, one limousine, three Mercedes, five Ferraris and 40 company cars. Yusuf even came up with a reason why an incredibly rich prince would want to live in Melbourne's western suburbs. I have a $40 million house in Brighton, he told the Turkish newspaper. However because I want to live amongst my community I live in Greenvale. Prosecutor Peter Rose, SC, said Yusuf had preyed on naive people. The accused targeted the Muslim community using their religious beliefs as reasons behind he was offering such high returns to investors, he said. Mr Rose told the plea hearing that instead of investing the money into trucks, Yusuf used most of it to fund his lavish lifestyle, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on travel as well as $1 million on entertainment, clothing and jewellery. He said Yusuf paid no tax and used $45,000 to sponsor a Miss Teen Beauty contest and a kick-boxing contest to advertise his companies. The court heard that when investors got concerned about the legitimacy of the trucking business, Yusuf sold all his assets and moved to Malaysia. Defence counsel Robert Richter, QC, said his client had been diagnosed with a narcissistic personality disorder and was of low to average intelligence. He said Yusuf had lived in a fantasy world in which he had decided to build an empire. It really does read like a television comic series, Mr Richter said. They are the deceptions of a man who really was deceiving himself. Justice Robert Osborn remanded Yusuf in custody to be sentenced at a later date. Posted by: ryuge 2008-11-06 |
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