Serial fraudster Robert Collins may have invented character references for court, DPP says
A serial fraudster who fleeced victims by using the names of top US politicians and Saudi Arabian princes may have forged good character references to try to avoid prison, a court has heard.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A serial fraudster who fleeced his victims through claimed links to a top US politician and a Middle Eastern prince may have forged his own good character references to avoid prison, a court has heard.
The Director of Public Prosecutions is investigating the legitimacy of letters presented to the court saying Robert Wayne Collins, who was found guilty of seven counts of deception, was a valuable member of the community.
Collins’ victims, who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in a complicated foreign investment scam, told District Court Judge Liesl Chapman that the now-77-year-old had ruined their lives.
Prosecutor Tim Preston said that one of Collins’ character references came from a man purporting to be the chief corporate officer of a Smithfield-based company.
However, no record of the company exists online, Mr Preston said.
Another letter came from a director of a shipping company who received $60,000 of the money Collins stole from his victims.
Mr Preston said that letter, along with letters by Collins’ wife Veronika Mohor and their son, should be given no weight by the court because all three people had directly benefited from the serial fraudster’s crimes.
Collins and Ms Mohor were ordered to pay almost $400,000 in compensation to 11 victims after a District Court civil case in 2015.
The pair filed for bankruptcy, returning to their victims only a fraction of the money they had given, believing it was going towards “blue-chip, cream of the crop, high return” investment properties in New York.
To give the scam an aura of truth the pair fabricated websites and emails from “exotic characters” such as John Kerry, the former US Secretary of State as well as the president of Swiss Bank and Sultan Bin Mohammed in Saudi Arabia.
On Thursday the court heard from eight of the victims, all of whom had lost tens of thousands of dollars.
They told the court the offending had left them angry and in once case, feeling like a “charity case” because they could not afford to go on social outtings with friends and family.
George Mancini, for Collins, argued the court should not take into account witness accounts that their money had gone towards luxury cars, a holiday to Europe and a gift to their son.
Judge Chapman said Collins had been living the “high life”.
“Since 1973 he has been committing acts of dishonest, he has spent 17 years in jail,” she said.
“The psychologist’s report says that he is a high risk of reoffending, that he is a narcissist.
“He is not a nice person, Mr Mancini, he has been doing these things since 1973.
“He doesn’t admit that he has done anything wrong.”
Mr Mancini argued that Collins was a religious man who had contributed to the community through his faith. Judge Chapman refused that submission.
“He used his religion to dupe some of his victims,” she said.
“He’s left behind a trail of people who still feel distress. The only thing these character references tell me, concerningly, is that there are still people in the community who believe what he says.”
Collins will be sentenced later this month.