Overview
- Detectives raided a Dover Heights mansion, arresting 53-year-old Anya Phan and 25-year-old Thi Ta and seizing documents, electronics and luxury goods.
- Items seized included a 40-gram gold bar and about A$6,600 in casino chips, with the NSW Crime Commission freezing a further A$15 million in assets to about A$75 million total restrained.
- Phan faces 39 charges including directing a criminal group and multiple deception counts and was refused bail; Ta faces fraud and proceeds-of-crime charges and was granted conditional bail to appear in January.
- Police allege Phan exploited trust within Sydney’s Vietnamese community by convincing people to take out loans on the promise of a future “billionaire,” then taking a cut.
- The arrests sit within a wider probe into the alleged Penthouse Syndicate and professional facilitators, with 17 people previously charged and inquiries continuing into bank links.