Daniele ‘Danny’ Biglietto: Former banker defrauded victims to fund addictions in ‘cry for help’

A judge has labelled a former Sydney banker’s offending “hoplesss” after the fraudster swindled huge sums of money to fund a gambling and drug addiction.

Daniele 'Danny' Biglietto leaves Downing Centre on Thursday.

A judge has labelled a former Sydney banker’s offending a “cry for help” after the fraudster swindled huge sums of money to fund a gambling and drug addiction.

Daniele “Danny” Biglietto faced the NSW District Court for a sentence hearing on Thursday after previously pleading guilty to dozens of fraud charges, along with single counts of unauthorised pistol possession, drug possession and cultivating an illegal plant.

The court heard the 37-year-old’s offending spanned almost four years, starting from the back end of 2018 and ending with his arrest in April 2022.

Agreed facts outline how Biglietto’s many forms of offending, including scams in which he made multiple Facebook marketplace and Gumtree listings for iPhones, which victims would pay for but “never receive”.

Some were eventually refunded, including one victim who received their compensation almost three years after their purchase.

Daniele ‘Danny’ Biglietto outside Downing Centre on Thursday.

However, some of the victims, including one who received a valueless cheque for $5900, never saw their money again.

The facts reveal some of Biglietto’s crimes were committed while he worked for a business called Motor One.

Daniele Biglietto while on bail in 2022. Picture: John Grainger

Despite not having the authority to hire personnel or subcontract his duties, he offered Marco Alcantara, one of his former colleagues at the National Australia Bank, was offered a job with a $119,000 salary.

Mr Alcantara, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, performed work for Biglietto but resigned months later “because he had never been paid” the fortnightly amounts he had been promised. Instead, he was given a valueless cheque for $38,031.10.

At one prior to his resignation, Mr Alcantara was asked to rent a car “on the agreement … he would be reimbursed”. However, he only received roughly 15 per cent of the price.

That was not the extent of the fraud perpetrated against Mr Alcantara, who had been told, before even starting work, that Biglietto could source second-hand cars at an “extremely discounted rate”.

The Downing Centre court complex. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

He, his brother and a cousin all bought vehicles for a combined sum of $32,955.09 but never received them from Biglietto, who was not unauthorised to sell them.

Much of Biglietto’s offending involved the writing of valueless cheques, which he also gave to victims that included a medical centre cheated out of about $10,000, and individuals from whom he had borrowed money.

He was ultimately arrested in April 2022, a month after police had searched his Hurlstone Park home and found a gel blaster pistol, 1.2g of cocaine and a 77cm cannabis plant.

Biglietto’s barrister, David Mulligan, said his client’s offending started off “in a far more modest way” before an “uptick” in the last two years.

“One of the explanations, rather than excuses … (was the) emergency … and difficulties with his drug (and gambling) addiction,” Mr Mulligan said.

“It was significant enough to lead to a diagnosis of a substance abuse disorder.”

He cited one examples, which agreed facts revealed involved attempts to use a $72,000 cheque and $43,880 cheque to obtain two cars from a Mazda dealership.

“It’s an irrational course of events … the prospects of ever obtaining (those cars) … (were) non-existent,” Mr Mulligan said.

He told the court his client was remorseful and there was limited sophistication behind the offending.

Judge Michael McHugh SC noted calls for a jail sentence able to be served in the community, saying while “I’m a fan of the ICO (intensive correction order) … the objective seriousness” was concerning.

In an exchange with the Crown prosecutor, Judge McHugh said the offending seemed “hopeless” because “he’s going to get caught” unless people were willing to give up on their lost money.

The prosecutor said Biglietto “knew what he was doing” and, right throughout, he had been motivated “to deprive that person of the money that they had paid for the item”.

“There has been continual and repeated offending by this offender,” she said.

Judge McHugh doubled down on his characterisation of Biglietto’s offending, saying “one could put it as a cry for help”.

“It’s hopeless,” the judge said.

Biglietto is set to be sentenced in November.