Gold Coast boat salesman Andrew Kenneth Eustice jailed for multiple frauds, fleecing customers out of $1 million
This Gold Coast boat salesman fleeced up to $1m from customers and has spun a web of lies for decades. This is how a football legend’s son and private schoolboy ended up in prison.
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Career conman Andrew Eustice sits in a pale blue polo shirt as he tries a charm offensive that has netted him millions of dollars over 30 years.
It’s proven rhetoric. He says he’s crook. His hip and back are buggered, he’s in 24-hour care and his wife is struggling. The 61-year-old’s hands are shaking as he struggles to snare another deal. It is the lithium.
The person sitting across him this time, however, is not unsuspecting prey interested in a luxury boat or fast car. It is a district court judge.
Eustice’s fate is sealed, but not before he tries a final trump card: “Jail is a young man’s game,” he pleads.
The son of South Australian football legend Ken Eustice had previously pleaded guilty to 12 counts of fraud for taking deposits for luxury boats, while working for Platinum Boat Sales. The buyers did not receive the boats. He pocketed up to $1m.
In the Southport District Court on Friday, Eustice was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment. He will be eligible for parole in March 2025.
The privileged private schoolboy family’s finance woes started more than 30 years ago when his father’s leasing company, Excel Finance Corporation, collapsed in 1991 with debts of $65.9m.
Andrew Eustice had a car yard in South Australia – staff included former Australian cricketer Terry Jenner, whom would be jailed for embezzlement – but by 1994 Eustice had gone bust with debts of $6m, $2m of which was owed to mates.
In 1998, a car dealership he ran on the Gold Coast left a path of rubbery cheques and five years later he would be tagged a ruthless liar and thief while being sentenced to seven-and-a-half years’ jail for scamming friends of $881,000. Some of the money was used to buy a house in Seaforth, Sydney.
A victim told the Sunday Mail: “No one is safe from his touch. He was a golden-haired boy, living a charmed life, but leaving behind a trail of destruction and ruin.
“He cost me my house, my furniture, my car, everything.”
The New South Wales District Court was told Eustice capitalised on his father’s post-football career as a prominent car dealer, telling his victims he had connections in the automotive industry and could buy prestige cars at wholesale prices in Queensland before selling them at considerable profit in NSW.
“I take a very dim view of … the prisoner’s deceitful, deplorable and cowardly acts. He abused friendship to deceive and gain money for himself,” the judge said.
“The prisoner, in my view, shows no contrition – one can’t help but feel he’s sorry he got caught, rather than be really sorry about what he did.’’
Eustice pleaded guilty to nine counts of obtaining a financial advantage by deception, one count of obtaining an advantage by a false representation and four counts of obtaining credit while an undischarged bankrupt.
He admitted: “There never were any cars. I fell in with some heavies and the money is gone.’’
In a 2009 interview, 14 months after his release from prison, Eustice reflected: “I got involved in a business deal that went bad.
“I was bankrupt at the time, so I borrowed money from people when I couldn’t pay them back.
“My father had a very successful business but when that fell through I got involved in passing bad cheques.
“I had a very privileged background and a loving family – I sometimes wonder how a man like me ended up in jail.’’
Eustice reinvented himself as a motivational speaker and business sales trainer, it was reported at the time.
He was also about to become the face of a new prison program through ASK Employment and Training Services, aimed at helping ex-crims to find work.
“I’ve been through the tough times, I’ve been in the Centrelink queue, so I know what it’s like.
“The thing to learn is not to put yourself in silly situations and to take responsibility for your life.
“Everyone makes mistakes but once you take responsibility and rectify your mistakes you can move forward.’’
But the temptation was too great.
Police nabbed the serial crook in October 2018 in a multimillion-dollar mansion he was renting at Paradise Waters. Clients had been stung hundreds of thousands of dollars for luxury boats they never received.
Like previous chapters, Eustice ran out of money. He was denied Legal Aid and would ultimately represent himself in court.
“You have an absolutely appalling criminal history of like offending,” Judge Deborah Holliday said during sentencing.
“This is your fifth time before the courts being sentenced for fraud offences.
“You have continued to reoffend despite the sentences being imposed on you, including lengthy periods of actual custody.”
$1m fraudster ‘doesn’t deserve to be in society’ – May 27
A boat salesman who fleeced up to $1m from customers through multiple frauds has been jailed.
But one of his victims says the sentence “should be longer”.
Andrew Kenneth Eustice was charged with 12 counts of fraud for taking deposits for luxury boats, while working for Platinum Boat Sales. The buyers did not receive the boats.
In the Southport District Court on Friday, Eustice was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment to be eligible for parole on March 29, 2025.
The 61-year-old, who was self-represented in court, made up to $1m out of the scheme.
Gold Coast entrepreneur Alex Rich paid $125,000 upfront for a motor yacht he never received.
He was trying to raise money for his tech start-up while locked in a three-year court battle to recover the funds, which proved unsuccessful.
The Desygner founder said potential investors backed out of his company because of the legal drama.
“It affected my whole company and the growth of the company over those three years.
“It was an extremely stressful time.”
Commenting on Eustice’s sentence, the entrepreneur said he was happy with the outcome but felt the jail term “should have been longer”.
“The lack of care he had for any of his victims … he really just doesn’t deserve to be in society,” Mr Rich said.
He also slammed the justice system over the lack of support for fraud victims.
“Anyone can repeat the same fraud and nobody seems to care.”
Eustice told the court he invested most of the fraudulent money back into the business, but used some of it to fund his lifestyle.
He asked Judge Deborah Holliday to take into account his poor health when it came to sentencing, saying “jail is a young man’s game”.
“My health is not good. I’m under 24-hour care in jail,” he said.
“I’ve got a crook hip, I’m on lithium which gives me the shakes.
“My wife, it’s impacted her.
“I know it’s impacted a lot of people, I’m sorry for that. But it has impacted her and her health – she’s struggling.”
Eustice pleaded guilty to the charges in the Southport District Court in October last year but the case was adjourned so a psychological report could be prepared.
Ms Holliday took into account Eustice’s guilty plea and efforts of rehabilitation when handing down the sentence.
“You have an absolutely appalling criminal history of like offending,” she said.
“This is your fifth time before the courts being sentenced for fraud offences.
“You have continued to reoffend despite the sentences being imposed on you, including lengthy periods of actual custody”.
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