McGurk murder link to $150m fraud

Sydney police investigating $150 million in mortgage fraud are examining possible links to two murders, including the execution of businessman Michael McGurk.
The New South Wales Fraud Squad claimed its biggest scalp over the alleged racket yesterday, when the president of the Hells Angels' Sydney chapter handed himself in.
Felix Lyle, 54, is trying to raise $100,000 to be released on bail after becoming the 16th person charged over the alleged scams.
Fraud Squad Commander Col Dyson says the group is involved in two separate fraud rings linked to Mr McGurk that have used the names of the dead and vulnerable to obtain at least $15 million in loans.
"All financial institutions have been touched in some way," Detective Superintendent Dyson said.
He says the strike force investigating the fraud is probing ties to the businessman's 2009 execution and another murder.
"Some of the aspects of Strike Force Apia and its operations have links into other crimes and some of those crimes include homicides," he said.
Five men have been charged over Mr McGurk's murder. Police say no-one has been charged over the other homicide.
Felix Lyle
Felix Lyle smiled and shook hands with senior Fraud Squad detectives yesterday afternoon as he handed himself in at Surry Hills Police Station.
Police granted him bail but he has so far failed to find $100,000 surety from an acceptable person. Even so, his solicitor Martin Ricci says he continues to be in "good spirits".
Mr Ricci says his client will "vigorously defend" a charge of money laundering and three charges of attempted fraud.
Police have valued the offences at $2.3 million but the lawyer says the case has been "blown out of proportion".
Detectives allege Lyle tried to use the money to finance earthmoving equipment, motorcycles and a terrace house in the inner Sydney suburb of Alexandria, currently occupied by the Sunset Properties Group.
Lyle's bail conditions prohibit him from contacting his associate, Mr McGurk's former finance broker Terrence Reddy, who became the first person charged over their alleged fraud ring a fortnight ago.
Police are planning to charge more alleged members of the ring "in the very near future", Det Supt Dyson says, but Felix Lyle will be their highest-profile arrest.
Thirteen people have been charged over the other fraud ring.
'New rules'
The Fraud Squad Commander says his investigators are facing a new type of criminal, with gangs muscling in on white-collar crime.
"The notion of your stereotypical fraud offender being dressed in a pin-striped suit and carrying a briefcase is well and truly gone," he said.
"It's certainly becoming a new trend. Not just outlaw motorcycle gangs but all forms of organised criminals are currently working with people with experience in the financial sector and learning from their experience.
"It's certainly a new set of rules that we're encountering but as you can see from the arrests that we've made of recent times, we're certainly responding to it."
Police say Strike Force Apia has stopped $55 million in loans from being processed by a number of financial institutions.
Lyle is due to face Sydney's Central Local Court on Tuesday. His lawyer says he may apply for his bail conditions to be eased if he fails to raise his surety.
There is no suggestion any of the 16 people charged over the fraud played any part in the two murders.

 

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