Source : Perth Now news
A former captain of a prestigious Sydney school accused of fleecing $3m from his friends in a fake betting scam has failed to convince a judge he should be released from custody so he can get married.
Chao Wang, 24, is accused of scamming $3m by convincing more than a dozen victims – some of whom were his friends – to invest in a fake betting company.
Some of the individual fraud sums go as high as $857,000, Justice Deborah Sweeney told the court during Mr Wang’s bail hearing in the Supreme Court on Thursday.
The former Ashfield Boys High captain is accused of threatening one of the alleged victims, with police also alleging Mr Wang threatened witnesses when he became aware he was being investigated.
Mr Wang is also accused of having connections with organised crime figures, with the 24-year-old previously telling police he was “hiding” in Thailand from crime figures, the court was told.
Mr Wang has been behind bars for more than 260 days following his arrest last June.
He wants to be released from custody so that he can marry his fiancee, his lawyer Tomas Gooley told the court on Thursday.
“(He) has a family that’s supportive, has a partner that wants to marry him,” Mr Gooley told the court.
“They will get married if granted bail.”
The prosecution fought against his release, arguing Mr Wang’s fiancee is only able to be in Australia for three months at a time as per her tourist visa which could affect Mr Wang’s desire to remain in the country.
The prosecutor further alleged Mr Wang had continued to gamble when he was previously granted bail, which gave rise to a risk of him committing further offences.
Mr Gooley said his client would seek treatment to address his gambling if granted bail and said there was no evidence Mr Wang would flee the country, noting he had lived in Australia since the age of five after his family moved from China and he has strong ties in Sydney.
“(His parents are) relatively humble people with a humble property, willing to put up pretty much everything they own for their son to have bail,” Mr Gooley said.
Mr Gooley further argued the case would likely be delayed as the police officer in charge had indicated additional charges could be laid, as well as due to a lack of trial date availability.
He added his client’s repayment of some of his alleged victims, and therefore his admissions to taking money from them, took away the risk of him interfering with witnesses.
Justice Sweeney ultimately denied Mr Wang’s application over concerns about his gambling, which “seems to be what’s given rise to the alleged offences”.
Gambling helplines
“I’m not persuaded that the extent of delay, the difficulty of preparing his defence in custody, and his desire to marry his fiancee shows cause (for his release),” Ms Sweeney said.
“I think the unacceptable risk of him committing further offences … cannot be properly ameliorated by the proposed conditions, so bail is refused.”
Mr Wang was previously granted bail when he was facing a single charge. A further 20 charges were later laid against him, the court was told on Thursday.
He is facing 16 counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage etc by deception, two of making a false document to obtain financial advantage, and another charge of demand with menaces intend obtain gain/cause loss.
He has not yet entered any pleas.
