Sydney real estate agent Warren Ginsberg appeals cocaine possession conviction
Socialite and eastern suburbs real estate agent Warren Ginsberg is appealing after he was convicted on his third drug possession offence.
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Socialite and top Sydney real estate agent Warren Ginsberg is appealing after he was convicted on his third drug possession offence.
Police had alleged the Ray White Double Bay director was caught with cocaine after officers saw him entering a car before quickly exiting in Bondi in August during NSW’s lockdown.
The 33-year-old, who once dated actor Jodi Gordon, was convicted and fined $500 in Waverley Local Court last month after pleading guilty to drug possession.
It was the third time Ginsberg had been charged with drug possession but the first time he had been convicted of the offence.
Court records show Ginsberg is now planning to appeal against the severity of that punishment for his third offence. He is listed to appear in the higher Downing Centre District Court on October 27.
Ginsberg, who was represented in Waverley Local Court by defence lawyer Bryan Wrench, declined to comment when contacted about his legal challenge on Thursday.
In court Wrench had produced an email that had been sent to Ginsberg from a client who had said rival agents had sent him links to news articles about his most recent cocaine charge.
“They are seeking to take advantage of the situation,” the lawyer said.
Ginsberg’s appeal comes after fellow Sydney socialite Kristin Fisher successfully overturned her own conviction for cocaine possession.
Fisher, 36, was caught by police with two bags of cocaine at her feet in a car in Bondi last July during the lockdown.
She had not shown on the day she was meant to face Waverley Local Court in September and magistrate Ross Hudson fined her $550 and convicted her in absence.
But her solicitor Michael Bowe said she had failed to appear only because a family member had removed a document with her court date that had been put on her fridge.
In court, a fed-up Magistrate Ross Hudson said cocaine had become a “stain” on the area as he had seen a flood of cocaine-related cases before Waverly Court.
“The eastern suburbs of Sydney must be becoming fed up with drug dealing in this state. It really is a stain on our community,” the magistrate said.
“People who think cocaine and other drugs are … part of our fabric, that they are part of a night out … they are not. It (cocaine) is a criminal, illegal drug.”
NSW Police Minister David Elliott meanwhile said enough was enough.
“This whole cocaine culture, particularly in the eastern suburbs, has to end,” Elliott said.
“It’s an illegal substance for good reason. No one, regardless of celebrity status or influence, should be allowed to pollute our community with illicit drugs.
“I would encourage the judiciary to treat every drug matter as if the offender had been caught selling death pills to their own kids.”
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