Simply The Bets boss Michael Pryde denies forging bank letter

Michael Pryde has admitted a letter he sent to investors with his Simply The Bets scheme which claimed he had $2.6 million in the bank had been “altered”. He actually had less than $3,000 in his account.

Michael Pryde.

Professional punter Michael Pryde has admitted that a letter he sent to investors with his Simply The Bets scheme which claimed he had $2.6 million in the bank had been “altered”.

The CBA bank account had $2,600.80 in it, not $2,600,803, but Pryde, 31, has denied the letter had been forged.

The letter has emerged as more investors in what the St Josephs Hunter Hill old boy billed as a “guaranteed” betting system have come forward to claim they are owed not only the profits they were promised but also their original investments.

Pryde has been texting increasingly concerned investors since The Daily Telegraph revealed earlier this week that businessmen, their wives and lawyers had allegedly lost millions to the scheme.

The NSW Supreme Court has issued a freezing order against Pryde to protect $1,357,304 allegedly owed to two businessmen who have begun civil action against him to recoup their money.

The letter sent by Michael Pryde to investors claiming he had $2,620,803,12 in his CBA bank account. The actual amount was $2,600. Pryde has admitted in a letter seen by The Daily Telegraph that the amount was incorrect but denies forging the letter."

In a separate case, the District Court has ordered that Pryde pay another investor $74,542.

The letter purportedly from the CBA to Pryde in June 2022 which he circulated to investors said his personal account had $2,620,803.12 in credit. It didn’t. He has been accused of moving the decimal point.

In a letter to lawyers seen by The Daily Telegraph, Pryde said the letter was incorrect and altered but said that no-one who received it went on to make any further deposits with him through “personal agreements”.

He said he had been under “extreme duress” when he produced the letter.

McLaren Apartments in North Sydney. Michael Pryde claimed on official ASSC documents that his business address for Simply The Bets was an apartment in the prestigious McLaren Apartments at The Rocks but the apartment does not exist.

“Not a single person who received what I now recognise to be incorrect bank letter made a further deposit into any personal agreements,” Pryde wrote.

“It was my assertion that the bank reference were an indication of all funds currently held within the personal agreements with all personnel involved. I had included cash amounts, bank totals as well as funds held in various betting accounts.

“At the time, I did not see that I was in fact wrong to include anything other than the amount in that specific bank account. I now recognise this as a mistake however I did note that the letter was altered, as well as recognised the document itself read that it “not responsible for any reliance on this letter”.

“There were certainly extreme duress in which I was under when I was asked to produce the aforementioned letter.”

Pryde told The Daily Telegraph earlier this week: “I have not ... admitted to falsifying a CBA letter.”

On Tuesday he said he could not discuss any of the matters because the case was before the courts.

The Supreme Court was told this week that lawyers Swaab Attorneys who represent two investors were going ahead with an order to wind up Simply The Bets and appoint a provisional liquidator.