Daughter of property developer Jean Nassif has bail condition relaxed on $150m fraud charges

Flanked by family, the glamorous lawyer daughter of property developer Jean Nassif, made a brief appearance in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday.

Ashlyn Nassif, left, arrives at the Downing Centre on Wednesday. Picture: John Grainger

The daughter of besieged property developer Jean Nassif has successfully applied to a court to have one of her bail conditions relaxed, less than two weeks after she was released from custody on charges stemming from her alleged involvement in a $150 million property fraud.

Ashlyn Nassif briefly fronted Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday, flanked by family members, as her lawyer sought to extended her night-time curfew past the 9pm limit that had been imposed by the magistrate when she was originally granted bail on March 1.

The magistrate granted the variation.

The court was told police are yet to make any further arrests in the case.

Ashlyn was arrested on February 28 and charged with one count each of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception and publishing false or misleading material to obtain advantage, amid allegations she supplied a bank with fake pre-sales contracts in order to obtain a $150 million loan for one of her father’s developments at Castle Hill.

Ashlyn Nassif, centre, arrives at court on Wednesday. Picture: John Grainger

She was granted strict conditional bail the following day, after her family agreed to put up the deeds to a $2.6 million property.

As part of her bail, Ashlyn was also required to live with her mother in Concord, report daily to Burwood Police Station, not contact 24 people, including her father, and abide by a night-time curfew.

Police will allege in court that over the course of three months in late 2021, Ashlyn submitted at least $10.5 million in fake pre-sale contracts to Westpac Bank for more than a dozen apartments in the $900 million Skyview Castle Hill apartment tower complex, which was being built by her father’s development company, Toplace.

The court heard police will allege Ashlyn’s provision of the allegedly fake contracts paved the way for Westpac to fund a $150 million loan for the controversial venture.

The development has since been hit with an occupation certificate prohibition order by the NSW Building Commissioner, after an investigation found there were “serious defects” in one of the development’s towers.

As part of their investigation, police raided four properties, including the offices of Ashlyn’s law firm, EA Legal.

Ashlyn’s father, Jean Nassif, is currently overseas. Picture: News Corp

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by anyone else at the firm.

Jean Nassif, who is currently overseas, came out in support of his daughter on social media after her initial court appearance, posting a message to Instagram that read “to my daughter, never forget that I love you”.

“I hope you believe in yourself as much as I believe in you.,” he wrote.

“When life tries to knock you down, I will always have your back. I can’t promise to be here for the rest of your life … but what I can promise is that I will love you for the rest of mine”.

Meanwhile, Toplace made headlines again earlier this week when the New District Court found the company had been negligent following a horror workplace accident at one of its construction sites where a young trainee surveyor became impaled on a steel rod after plunging through gaps in the floor of one of the tower blocks being built in Granville in January 2018.

The company is currently locked in litigation with NSW Fair Trading in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal after the watchdog hit Jean Nassif and Toplace with a 10-year building license suspension and a permanent revocation respectively after an investigation into their properties allegedly uncovered 40 building defects across three sites.

NCAT in January agreed to stay the orders, allowing Toplace to continue operating, while an appeal is underway.