Elie Douna, Charbel Douna: LuxLiving builders charged over alleged $15M fraud scheme

Two Illawarra brothers, whose wives flaunt their lavish lifestyles on Instagram, have been charged with their real estate agent mate over a multimillion-dollar alleged building fraud scheme.

A pair of twin brothers whose influencer wives flaunt their lavish lifestyles on Instagram have been charged over a major alleged building fraud scheme.

Directors at Albion Park based company LuxLiving homes, Charbel and Elie Douna were arrested following sweeping raids across the Illawarra on Wednesday.

Elie Douna, 33. Picture: Instagram

Charbel Douna. Picture: Instagram

The investigation began more than a year ago, following an the establishment of Strike Force Mote.

Police finally pounced on the brothers on Wednesday, searching their homes, the company’s head office and Illawarra law firm Wollongong Legal.

Police will allege the Douna twins were using falsified documentation in an attempt to obtain a $14.7 million loan to construct properties in LuxLiving’s 92-home Avondale estate ‘Avoca Park’.

Detective Chief Inspector Glen Broadhead said police would allege 10 contracts of sale for the estate were legitimate, while nine allegedly were not.

“We believe those (allegedly illegitimate) contracts have been put in names of people who have not purchased land or had no intention to purchase land,” he said.

“We believe the specific reason for those (allegedly) false contracts was to support the loan application to ensure the business appeared to have sufficient funds to move forward with the loan application.”

It will also be alleged they enlisted the help of their real estate agent mate Ben Feltham, of Right Choice Real Estate in Albion Park, who allegedly published false contracts of sale as part of the scheme.

“We believe he was making false documents used as contracts of sale,” Inspector Broadhead said.

Ben Feltham, a real estate agent, has been charged as part of the alleged scheme. Picture: supplied

Charbel was arrested on Wednesday morning at his luxury Calderwood property, which features heavily on his wife’s Instagram account, while Elie was arrested at his Wongawilli home.

Feltham, aged 35, was arrested when he presented to Lake Illawarra Police Station, dressed up in a suit, that afternoon.

During the course of Wednesday’s search warrants, investigators seized financial documents, poker machines, firearms and electronic devices, which are all set to undergo forensic examination.

Charbel was arrested at his Calderwood home. Picture: NSW Police

Police also confirmed one of the firearms was seized after it was discovered on Charbel’s wife’s Instagram in 2019. In a video posted to her account, Charbel can be seen firing the gun at a gender reveal balloon, which exploded into Pink dust when hit.

“It’s just reckless,” Inspector Broadhead said.

Both Elie and Charbel were charged with 19 counts of publish etc false/misleading information to obtain advantage, dishonestly obtain financial advance by deception and participate criminal group contribute criminal activity.

Feltham was charged with nine counts of publish etc false/misleading information to obtain advantage and participate criminal group contribute criminal activity.

Feltham was charged at Lake Illawarra police station. Picture: NSW Police

While the twins don’t have Instagram themselves, their wives often flaunt their designer clothes, cars and bags- as well as expensive holidays and first class flights. There is no suggestion the wives were involved in any way.

While Wollongong Legal was raided, police confirmed no arrests were made.

The Douna twins and Feltham were granted police bail to appear before Port Kembla Local Court in April.