St Kevin’s College graduate Damien Carew confessed to police he was working with Russian mafia

An investigation into former Melbourne private schoolboy Damien Carew has taken a dramatic turn after his latest police confession.

Jet-setting Australian real estate agent Damien Carew confessed to police he was working with the Russian mafia in a major international money laundering operation, it can be revealed.

The former Melbourne private school boy, who was separately convicted for beating his Russian wife, has been under investigation by French investigators since October 2021, when he was found drunk on a street in Paris carrying 200,000 euros in cash.

Sources close to the inquiry have now revealed the extent of Carew’s alleged mafia involvement, his police confession, the laundering commissions he received and how he feared for his life.

Damien Carew was separately convicted for beating his Russian wife Anna Polianskaya. Picture: Facebook

Police suspect Dubai-based Irish national Michael James Burke is pulling the laundering racket’s strings.

The sources also revealed his family’s close relationship with Dubai-based Irish national Michael James Burke, who police suspect is pulling the laundering racket’s strings in France, Monaco, Dubai, Ukraine and Iran – but has never been charged.

Carew allegedly told French officers, upon his arrest, he delivered bags of cash to people of Russian and Ukrainian origin in France. He refused to give their names for fear of reprisals.

He would only say he was “an estate agent living in Monaco and working with the Russian mafia”.

Between May and September 2021, he allegedly dropped off 3.3 million euros to various people in Paris – and elsewhere in France.

“Every time I received the money, I took my percentage and I had to be precise. I’m dyslexic, so I bought a banknote counter … I received the money, took my share and handed it over, and that was it,” Carew allegedly told investigators.

The St Kevin’s College graduate allegedly received one per cent of the total for every cash delivery he made, which added up to more than 34,000 euros for that period in 2021.

Damien Carew loved drama classes and performing.

Carew was in a WhatsApp group called “Delivery” which was allegedly used by Burke to give instructions to the Australian on where to go to pick up or deliver cash in the money laundering operation.

Messages on that group included questions like “Did you receive the 50K?”.

“All of the (four) participants in this group left between 22/10/2021 and 23/10/2021, after Damien Carew was arrested,” sources said.

He has been charged with aggravated money laundering and conspiracy to commit an offence punishable by 10 years imprisonment.

Before his life unravelled in 2021, Carew had been a successful real estate entrepreneur and he and his Russian wife lived a glamorous life in Dubai and then in France.

But their money dried up when Carew’s Monaco business was hit hard by the Covid pandemic. The couple started drinking heavily in their home in the hills of the French Riviera and the relationship turned violent.

Carew told investigators that he was dragged into the laundering operation after he was approached at a party in Monaco by people who’d heard of his financial woes.

After his arrest in Paris, he was let out on bail after a year in detention but in late 2022 he beat his wife into a coma – so badly she required surgery – while drunk.

Last October, a court in Nice sentenced him to a year in jail to be served in home detention. The court took into account the 16 months he had spent in custody awaiting trial.

Damien Carew appears at a French court in Nice. Picture: Franck Bessière

Carew and Burke became friends while the Australian was living in Dubai. Their families were close, sharing photos of family news and birthdays in a WhatsApp group titled “Families Carew-Burke”.

Investigators believe Burke, a real estate agent based in Dubai who has a string of offshore companies based in places like the Seychelles and Malta, ran the laundering operation.

Burke was invited by French investigators to appear before a judge in June 2023 to be placed under formal investigation, the equivalent of being charged under French law, but declined. “He is the subject of an international arrest warrant,” according to investigators. He is believed to be in Dubai, where he lives with his Iranian wife and children.

Carew told investigators he was dragged into the laundering operation after he was approached at a party in Monaco. Picture: Facebook

French magazine Revue XXI also reported on Friday that investigators suspect Burke attempted to illegally buy a $60 million Falcon jet, from the French manufacturer Dassault, for a person in the entourage of Congo President Denis Sassou-Nguesso.

Burke was allegedly a frontman and would not be the “ultimate beneficial owner” of the jet. Companies such as Dassault are obliged by law to ensure that such sales are conducted legally and that due diligence is done to ascertain who the final owner will be.

But investigators say that this sale, which was eventually cancelled, was dubious as Burke was concealing the ultimate owner.

Dassault said in a statement to this masthead that it “conducts its business in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. In this case, Dassault Aviation has co-operated fully with the French judicial authorities and is not implicated.”

The money laundering investigation is ongoing but as the French legal system is notoriously slow, it could be years before this case comes to court.

Burke and Carew’s lawyers were contacted for comment but did not respond.

Originally published as St Kevin’s College graduate Damien Carew confessed to police he was working with Russian mafia