Matthew Michael Nair: Gold Coast man sentenced for $1m property scam which left customers with incomplete homes

A serial Gold Coast property fraudster and the “mastermind” behind a plan to scam customers out of more than $1 million has faced court just months after being found guilty of rape.

A serial property fraudster and the “mastermind” behind a plan to scam customers out of more than $1 million used their money to pay himself a large wage rather than order building supplies or pay his creditors.

Gold Coast man Matthew Michael Nair, 40, appeared in Brisbane District Court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to 11 charges of fraud – dishonestly induces delivery of property value of more than $30,000.

It comes just months after Nair stood trial in the same court and was found guilty of rape.

Crown prosecutor Chris Cook said Nair, a property developer, was the “main player” behind the frauds, one of which occurred in 2011 and the remaining offences which happened between November 2014 and August 2015.

“He was the driving force behind this elaborate fraud,” he said.

The court heard customers were left with uncompleted properties after Nair used their funds for personal expenses and paid himself and his business partner “large wages”.

Mr Cook said that at times Nair was doing “enough to keep the company afloat” but creditors were not being paid and supplies were not being ordered.

Matthew Michael Nair.

Just over $1 million worth of work was paid for by customers but was not completed, the court heard.

Mr Cook said Nair was the “mastermind” and used other people as “pawns” in his offending.

Nair was arrested on the current fraud offences in October 2018, just months before he committed the rape offence in early 2019 at Kuraby.

A jury heard last year that Nair and his victim were on a couch when he attempted to kiss her and then tried to place a $50 note inside her skirt.

She told him she did not want to kiss him and said “I am not a prostitute.”

The court heard Nair then grabbed her forcefully by the vagina and she asked him to stop before he grabbed the woman by her extended wrists and dragged her into his bedroom, at which point he held her down and raped her.

Nair was sentenced to five years in prison for the rape, cumulative on a previous seven year sentence he was given in 2020 for several property fraud offences, with parole eligibility after four and half years.

Nair’s defence barrister told the court on Thursday that Nair had a background in the building industry in carpentry and property development.

He said Nair had suffered a number of physical and mental health conditions and had had some seizures while in custody from a stress-related condition.

Judge David Kent gave Nair a head sentence of three years’ imprisonment with a parole eligibility date of June 10, 2025.

All sentences were to be served concurrently with each other but commence at the expiration of the sentences Nair is currently serving.