Michael and Natalie Hotait admit defrauding $700k in inheritance money from her father

A pregnant woman who was the victim of a brutal mugging on a Sydney street eight years ago has fronted a court again, this time as a criminal, after admitting she stole $700,000 from her father.

Natalie Hotait, pictured in 2016 when she was the victim of a violent mugging in Blacktown, has turned criminal herself, after admitting she stole $700,000 from her father.

A Sydney mother and bashing survivor who nicked $700,000 in inheritance money from her elderly father may end up avoiding time behind bars, despite being virtually remorseless for her actions, a court has heard.

Lewis Buhagiar said he trusted his daughter Natalie Hotait and her husband Michael when he asked for their help with online banking after receiving the money from his deceased parents’ estate.

However, the couple bled Mr Buhagiar dry over a five-week period in mid-2020, transferring almost the entire sum into their own bank accounts, along with $10,000 from Mr Buhagiar’s superannuation.

According to court documents, the money was used to fund lavish lifestyle purchases including three 1kg gold bars, a $25,000 jet ski, designer jewellery and more than $200,000 in cryptocurrency.

A further $250,000 was poured into Michael’s TAB account to fund his long-standing gambling addiction.

The pair was finally caught when Mr Buhagiar went into a Commonwealth Bank branch to check his accounts in July 2020 and saw the fraudulent transactions.

Michael Hotait in an undated picture from social media.

He reported the matter to Merrylands Police Station, prompting detectives to charge the Hotaits with dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception.

The couple’s arrest came four years after a then-pregnant Natalie made headlines around the country when she was brutally bashed and robbed of her handbag in mugging at Blacktown in 2016.

She told media outlets at the time that she feared she might lose her unborn child and the ordeal had left her living in fear.

Meanwhile, the Hotaits maintained their innocence on the fraud charges for more than four years until they eventually pleaded guilty on the morning of their NSW District Court trial.

Judge Christine Mendes jailed Michael for two years last week, finding he had been the driving force behind the scam and had acted out of “greed” rather than “need”.

“In my view Mr Hotait deceived his father-in-law to enrich himself because he felt some kind of entitlement to his money,” Judge Mendes said.

“His addiction to gambling and his problematic history of alcohol and substance abuse do not mitigate the seriousness of the offending.”

However, Judge Mendes stopped short of imposing a similar penalty on Natalie, who she found had been a victim of abuse and controlling behaviour at the hands of her husband.

She instead elected to defer Natalie’s sentencing for at least three months under a special court order, on the condition the 32-year-old seek treatment for severe depression and anxiety, which had also contributed to the offending.

The move came despite Judge Mendes finding Natalie had done little to address her mental health concerns since her arrest and had repeatedly tried to minimise her role in the fraud, including telling a psychologist her father had “agreed to gift us some money” and that her arrest had “come as a major shock”.

Natalie Hotait pictured outside Parramatta court earlier this year.

“It is now more than four years after the offending conduct, yet the offender maintains a view that she was in some way entitled to the money she dishonestly obtained,” Judge Mendes said.

“I am not prepared to find that on [the] balance [of probabilities] she is remorseful.”

Judge Mendes warned Natalie that she was yet to make up her mind on the appropriate sentence and that a full-time jail sentence was still a possibility when the matter returned to court in early 2025.

The court heard Natalie’s relationship with her father had been fractured in the years before the fraud but began improving when he invited the family to live with him in Sydney.

Judge Mendes found Natalie had exploited her father’s technological naivety in defrauding him, which had left him feeling shocked, angry and untrusting in others.

The court heard most of the money had since been repaid to Mr Buhagiar but that he had to put off his planned retirement as a result of the fraud.