Michael Pryde of Simply the Bets Pty Ltd must enter pleas to fraud charges after allegedly scamming people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars

A Sydney bankrupt, who “genuinely believed” in his sports betting scheme which saw alleged victims lose hundreds of thousands of dollars, must enter pleas when his matter returns to court.

Michael Pryde during extradition from Brisbane by NSW Police. Picture: Tertius Pickard

A Sydney bankrupt, who “genuinely believed” in his sports betting scheme which saw alleged victims lose hundreds of thousands of dollars, must enter pleas when his matter returns to court.

Michael Charles Pryde appeared at Downing Centre Local Court on Monday where his lawyer, Jonathan Nigro, requested a six-week adjournment with his client charged with 18 fraud and intimidation offences including dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, using a false document to obtain financial advantage and threatening or causing injury to prevent information from being provided to police.

Court documents previously stated the 32-year-old’s alleged offending took place between August 13 2015 and March 2023 in Paddington where at least 20 complainants deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars into either his NBA/MLB, Horse Racing or PGA fund.

NSW Police established Strike Force Hand to investigate an alleged sports betting ponzi-style scheme and after extensive inquiries, Queensland Police officers arrested a 32-year-old man by virtue of an outstanding arrest warrant.

NSW detectives flew to Brisbane where he was extradited to NSW and taken to Mascot police station.

In a police statement, it alleges the man’s sports betting Ponzi-style scheme defrauded more than 100 victims out of approximately $4 million.

When Pryde was granted strict conditional bail the court heard Pryde was living in the eastern suburbs and continued to bump into people who knew of the alleged scheme, and he ultimately moved to Brisbane as a result.

Michael Pryde leaving Downing Centre Local Court on Monday.

A $50,000 surety was put forward for his release where he must live in Newcastle, report to police once a week, and abide by phone and banking conditions.

Mr Nigro told the court on Monday he requested the adjournment as “formalities have to be finalised” and he expected pleas to be entered on the next occasion.

Despite the prosecution's agreement, the registrar said the matter had been before the court “quite a few times” without pleas.

Mr Nigro said “the nature of the discussions” related to the 18 charges and “efforts” were being made to resolve the issue.

The registrar accepted the adjournment, however, Mr Nigro was told pleas “must be entered” on March 11.

The Daily Telegraph recently revealed that Bruce Gleeson, who was appointed as trustee after Pryde was declared bankrupt, was investigating “approximately $5.5 million from investors to … [his] company Simply the Bets Pty Ltd to his personal accounts during the period (from) mid 2018 to November 2022 and then how such monies were expended”.