Fadi Ibrahim pleads guilty after AFP Operation Veyda raids just days before trial

Sydney identity Fadi Ibrahim has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge, years after he was netted in Australian Federal Police raids and just days before he was set to face trial.

Fadi Ibrahim’s five-year legal saga has come to an end with a guilty plea. Picture: John Grainger

Sydney identity Fadi Ibrahim has pleaded guilty to possessing the suspected proceeds of crime, bringing to an end a five-year legal saga that saw almost 20 Australians arrested as far away as Dubai.

He is now facing a potential three years prison while his brother, Michael, languishes for decades behind bars after being brought down in the same raids.

The Ibrahims were arrested in Dubai in August 2017as part of Operation Veyda — a series of sweeping raids carried out by the Australian Federal Police designed to bring down syndicates involved in drug importation, dealing and money laundering.

48-year-old Fadi, the courts have heard, was accused of receiving money from his brother, Michael, that came from illegal tobacco importation. The charge states that Fadi did not know that the money was connected to an illegal activity. He was never accused of any crimes involving illicit drugs.

Sydney identity Fadi Ibrahim has pleaded guilty to possessing the suspected proceeds of crime. Picture: John Grainger

On Wednesday he pleaded guilty to possessing the suspected proceeds of crime, valued at more than $100,000.

Other charges were dropped.

Ibrahim was expected to face trial on Monday, five years after his arrest in Dubai.

His brother, Michael Ibrahim, was also arrested as part of Operation Veyda and was handed 25 years in prison for his role in an MDMA syndicate.

The AFP had penetrated the syndicates when an undercover officer convinced Michael that he had connections, which he called “a door”, that allowed him to bring illicit goods into Australia without detection.

“A total of 19 Australians were charged as result of the investigation, and more than 1.9 tonnes of narcotics destined for Australian streets was seized,” the AFP said in a statement on Wednesday.

Daily Telegraph September 5/22. Fadi Ibrahim walks into the hospital rd Supreme Court with his lawer . Picture John Grainger

Among them were the Ibrahims’ young relatives, Abraham and Hassan Sayour, who were spared prison for their role in guarding a warehouse full of cigarettes on the order of their uncle Michael.

Fadi will be the final person sentenced in the operation bringing an end to yet another chapter in his colourful life.

In 2009 he survived multiple gunshot wounds as he sat in his Lamborghini outside his north shore home and, just last week, he was in court over his battle with a former brothel madam who allegedly owes him millions of dollars - or a stake in her waterside home.

He remains on bail and will be sentenced in February 2023.

Editor’s Note: This story has been amended to further clarify that there is no suggestion Fadi Ibrahim knew that the money he received was connected to an illegal activity