Developer Salvatore ‘Sam’ Sgherza has been accused of defrauding his mother of more than $570,000 over sale of her home

AN Adelaide property developer has earned the wrath of his mother who has accused her son of defrauding her of more than $570,000.

Developer Salvatore “Sam” Sgherza has been accused of defrauding his mother over the sale of her West Lakes house.

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THE mother of an Adelaide property developer is suing her former bankrupt son accusing him of defrauding her of more than $570,000 and has alleged her signature was forged on loan documents.

Anna Sgherza, 78, claims in District Court documents that Salvatore “Sam” Sgherza — who is facing trial on 46 federal criminal charges — “fraudulently misappropriated” $573,021 from the sale of his mother’s Hayes Court house she built 35 years ago with husband Onofrio.

Her civil claim centres predominantly around loan between her 55-year-old son and finance company CEG Direct Security in May 2015 which was secured against her West Lakes house.

In her statement of claim, Mrs Sgherza alleges that CEG had agreed to lend her son $350,000 using the West Lakes house as collateral without her knowledge.

Mrs Sgherza said that “at no time” had she executed the loan agreement or mortgage in favour of CEG “nor consented to” and was “not made aware” of any such dealing.

“Onofrio Sgherza at no time executed any mortgage in favour of the second defendant (CEG),” her claim says.

“The signatories which appear on the memorandum of mortgage on the documents purporting to be signatures of the plaintiff are forgeries.”

Her claim does not specify who is alleged to have forged the signatures.

In her claim she said that shortly after the death of her husband, in September 2015, her son said “words to the effect” that the West Lakes property was too big for her and she needed to sell it.

She claims that her son said that upon the sale of the West Lakes house she would be able to live in a property owned by his daughter at Lightsview, in Adelaide’s northeast, pending the completion of two houses in Rapid Ave in the same suburb.

She asserts that she agreed to the sale on various conditions including representations that she would be the owner of the Rapid Ave houses, have exclusive use of the properties and that part funds of the West Lakes sale would go towards “high quality” furniture and fittings.

But she said that her son had not completed the building of the Rapid Ave houses and that proceeds of the West Lakes sale were instead used to satisfy the CEG loan debt and to repay a $273,367 reverse mortgage to Bankwest, which had been loaned against the West Lakes house.

“The first defendant (Mr Sgherza) fraudulently misappropriated $573,021 from the settlement proceeds of the West Lakes property for his own benefit such sum being due to the plaintiff,” her claim says, adding that her son had also breached an agreement to pay all interest payments on the Bankwest loan.

Mrs Sgherza is seeking unspecified damages. No defence has been filed in the case.

The Advertiser revealed this month that Mr Sgherza, who emerged from three years of self-imposed bankruptcy on August 30, 2015, is facing criminal charges including allegations he intended to defraud creditors of $128,000.

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