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Fraudster hits CBA for $22 million

by James Mitchell10 minute read

Fresh allegations have emerged in the case of a professional poker player and his associate charged with defrauding a number of Australian lenders of $100 million.

In May last year, Fairfax Media reported that Bill Jordanou appeared before the Melbourne Magistrates Court to answer 142 charges relating to fraud and theft between 2004 and 2013.

The alleged fraud involved CBA, ANZ, Westpac, Bankwest, St George and Bank of Queensland.

It was “often in the form of a home loan or an electronic transfer into a home loan account”, according to The Age.

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Police have now alleged that Bill Jordanou threatened an associate’s baby unless the man obtained false loans.

Fairfax Media reported last week that Mr Jordanou and co-accused Robert Zaia, along with two men linked to outlaw motorcycle gangs, threatened their associate’s child unless he agreed to obtain $225,000 in false loans to purchase vehicles.

Mr Jordanou and Mr Zaia are accused of using falsified documents to obtain $100 million, through clients of Mr Zaia's accountancy firm, from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and other lenders between 2004 and 2013.

On February 23, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard that CBA alone was defrauded of $22 million.

The court was told that Australia’s largest bank had made hundreds of documents about CBA loan policies available to legal counsel for the accused.

Colin Almond, representing the bank, raised concerns about further requests for "highly sensitive" information and called for details of settlements between the bank and its customers not to be aired in court.

Magistrate Suzie Cameron granted his request.

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James Mitchell

AUTHOR

James Mitchell has over eight years’ experience as a financial reporter and is the editor of Wealth and Wellness at Momentum Media.

He has a sound pedigree to cover the business of mortgages and the converging financial services sector having reported for leading finance titles InvestorDaily, InvestorWeekly, Accountants Daily, ifa, Mortgage Business, Residential Property Manager, Real Estate Business, SMSF Adviser, Smart Property Investment, and The Adviser.

He has also been published in The Daily Telegraph and contributed online to FST Media and Mergermarket, part of the Financial Times Group.

James holds a BA (Hons) in English Literature and an MA in Journalism.