Daniel Harris trial: Former real estate agent found guilty of 115 counts of fraud

A charming man convinced friends and acquaintances to trust him to invest their hard-earned super into a property investment scheme. The former real estate agent has now been found guilty of more than 110 charges of fraud.

Daniel Harris pictured outside Downing Centre Court. Picture: Damian Shaw

Dan the Superman. A trusted friend. An expert in real estate. A fraudster.

Coffs Harbour resident Daniel Leslie Harris was charged with 115 counts of fraud after he charmed friends and acquaintances into investing their hard-earned superannuation money into a scheme over a decade, only to leave them in the lurch with no hope of recouping their losses.

The former realtor pleaded not guilty to 115 counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, adding up to more than $1.1m involving 27 alleged victims.

For 16 weeks, a trial involving witnesses, hundreds of pages of evidence and detailed cross-examinations took place at Downing Centre District Court.

While complex and detailed, the prosecution’s case centred around the fact that in 2008, former realtor Harris “thought up an investment scheme” which involved using participants’ self-managed super funds (SMSF) through a unit trust to invest in property and property development.

Daniel Harris faced trial on 115 counts of fraud.

The victims were promised they would be property owners and receive an eight per cent return on their investment, but that never happened, and none of them got their investment back in full.

Similar to the infamous Melissa Caddick, Harris was also operating without an Australian Financial Services licence.

The money was withdrawn for Harris’ own personal use, in what he claimed was his wages, and for other schemes involving properties at Valla Beach, Armidale and Coffs Harbour but not in the way that was promised.

On Friday, the jury found him guilty of all 115 counts and Harris, who remains on bail, will be sentenced by a judge in November. While they are relieved justice will be served, the victims say it does not make up for the emotional and financial toll.

‘Dan the Superman’

Campbelltown resident Nora* was one of his first victims. She met Harris through his former wife, April, who had sung at Nora’s wedding.

April Lord, formerly April Harris, was convicted and fined for dealing with property proceeds of crime less than $100,000 and one count of receiving suspected proceeds less than $100,000 in 2021.

The charges related to money taken from the superannuation accounts but the court heard at the time that Harris was the “architect” of the scheme

In 2008, Nora visited the couple at their home in Coffs Harbour where Harris told her about an investment scheme that would set her up for the future.

Using what Nora described as “the gift of the gab”, he convinced her to set up a self-managed super fund, give him access, and he would invest that money in a property portfolio.

She used to call him Dan the Superman, but seven years later, Nora realised she was the victim of fraud.

The first red flag for Nora was when the investors received a letter from the accountant who said the funds had been exhausted and raised concerns about the scheme, but Harris blamed the accountant.

Nora met Daniel Harris through his partner at the time. Picture: Adam Yip

“[Harris] said he would be going to these new accountants, and he would be continuing it from there,” she said. “He was just super duper convincing that everything was above board, and we have smooth sailing again.”

Another inkling that something was wrong was when Nora asked for documents and invoices regarding the developments and properties, but she did not receive anything back.

Nora started to worry even more when she and her partner went to buy a new home in Campbelltown, but the bank raised concerns about liabilities with her superannuation fund – an issue Harris had told her would not be a problem.

“Daniel was the only person who was able to give that to me, and I chased it. We almost lost our deposit. We almost lost the property because I didn’t get the official letter,” she said.

“The loan was granted to us because I had been a long-term customer of theirs as an individual, and my partner was on it – that was the only reason.”

Nora used to call Daniel Harris”Dan the Superman” only to realise the person she thought was a friend was a fraud.

In 2015, Nora closed the Newcastle Permanent account, set up a new superfund, and left behind the scheme. She soon found out that cash withdrawals had been made from her account with a card, even though she had never set a card up, and Harris used to ring her payroll department to find out when her super contributions were getting paid into the account.

Then in 2018, the police contacted her, and five years later, she found herself giving evidence at the trial.

In the end, Nora estimated she contributed more than $40,000 into that account and never saw any of it again. Harris was charged with six counts of fraud relating to Nora, which added up to $3400.74.

It’s been 15 years of Nora’s life tied to this, leaving her feeling like a “gullible person”.

Daniel Harris pleaded not guilty but a jury found him guilty on all 115 counts. Picture: Damian Shaw

“I’ll never get that back, so that’s now affected, not only me, because I went into it initially as a single person, but now, my partner and now my daughter,” she said. “He was believable. He was professional.

“It’s hard to say don’t trust anybody, but it’s almost left me feeling now that I can’t trust anyone like this.”

When asked if she had anything to say to Harris, Nora referenced a conversation she had with Daniel when she first raised concerns.

“He said something along the lines of ‘well call the fraud squad, I have nothing to hide’,” she recalled. “It turns out you did.”

‘We trusted him’

Meanwhile, Coffs Harbour husband and wife John and Mary* invested about $140,000 of their super into the scheme, and Harris was charged with dishonestly obtaining $103,200.

The couple met Harris through his partner in 2006 and decided to invest in his scheme in 2013 when they were in their forties. Mary rolled her entire super into the nominated account, while her husband made small contributions but kept some separate.

One of the properties caught up in the fraud scandal was located near Valla Beach.

After a few years, Mary said she later caught Harris in some lies and coupled with a reluctance to pass on documentation, she knew something was not right.

“He always had an excuse and a reason as to why he was unable to deliver something we were requesting,” she said.

While a small amount of money returned, it was “nowhere close” to their original investment or what they had been offered.

“There has been a twofold impact. First is the financial. We are not going to be able to retire when we thought we wanted to, so that has pushed out at least another 10 years,” Mary said.

“We will never regain the funds we lost. On an emotional level, we trusted him, and now I find it hard to believe people.

“He was so good at talking, at making things sound legitimate, and so you question yourself and your ability to discern if something is for real or not.”

‘Sheer number of victims’

When the case landed on detective senior constable Sharyn Coffee’s desk in August 2018, she had no idea it would be an almost full-time investigation for five years.

Two fraud reports came through to Coffs Harbour Police District within a couple of weeks of each other, but soon, more victims came forward.

“On the first fraud reported, a person had contacted a solicitor, and there was some correspondence, and through that, I knew there would be some more, but I had no idea the sheer number of people who were going to be victims,” Senior Constable Coffee said.

“The hours of work into this were endless. My brief of evidence was 30 volumes which tells you the amount of paperwork involved. It was a lengthy investigation.”

Daniel will be sentenced in November. Picture: Damian Shaw

Detective Coffee said it soon became apparent that Harris had targeted friends and acquaintances and lured them in with the Australian dream of owning a property.

She said while she was relieved the victims could find relief in the guilty verdicts, it did not get them their money back.

“For some of the older victims, there is one woman in her sixties, they simply cannot recover,” Detective Coffee said.

“Even the younger ones in their thirties or younger, it will still take them a long time to recover.”

Detective Coffee urged the community to protect their super, which was critical for their future.

“You need to be careful who you trust,” she said.

*A pseudonym has been used to protect the identities of the victims.