The Snitch: Successful businessman pays $2 million for Luke ‘Fatboy’ Sparos’ bail

So who put $2 million on the line as bail money to secure the release of Luke “Fatboy” Sparos on charges he allegedly shot a feared gangster? The Snitch reveals all.

Top Sydney lawyer Brett Galloway had blood poisoning, but is very much alive.

So who is the person that put $2 million on the line as bail money to secure the release of Luke “Fatboy” Sparos on charges he allegedly shot a feared gangster?

The answer is Leo Lewin, a successful 69-year-old businessman from Sydney’s south.

Lewin told us he previously worked as a bookmaker before turning his attention to the carpet and flooring game. His resume also includes entries as a property investor and money lender.

Sparos will also be living in Lewin’s waterfront mansion as part of his bail conditions.

Businessman Leo Lewin has put up $2 million bail for Luke ‘Fatboy’ Sparos (above).

Sparos is charged with shooting Samer Marcus, a former leader of street gang DLASTHR or “The Last Hour” in November 2020.

We asked Lewin about having Sparos stay with him and he said: “I’ve known Luke for a long time and I don’t believe he did what the police say he did.”

Lewin, who practises Judaism, said his actions were a “mitzvah”, which Google tells us is “a good deed done from religious duty”.

Lewin said their relationship stretched back years, when Sparos was operating a caryard in Burwood and Lewin had his own caryards.

“I would see him at places like (car) auctions,” Lewin said. “I get on with people that I get on with.”

It turns out Lewin has had relationships with other colourful Sydney characters.

He once employed crime figure Hamad Assaad to protect his businesses in southwest Sydney from extortion attempts from crime figures.

Assaad was murdered in 2016 and his death remains unsolved. There is no suggestion Lewin had any involvement in his death.

On employing people who walked on the wrong side of the law, Lewin had an entertaining response.

“I’ve got people on work release (from jail) – best f … ing workers ever,” he said. “You get normal people and they say ‘Oh, I’ve got a rash, I’ve got to go home’.”

TOP LAWYER RISES FROM THE ‘DEAD’

It turns out reports of the death of leading Sydney criminal lawyer Brett Galloway were greatly exaggerated.

Snitch’s phone blew up on Thursday with texts saying that Galloway had died.

We immediately called Galloway and — true to form — the phone was answered by his personal assistant, who said he was very much alive.

She said Galloway had been taken to St Vincent’s Hospital on the weekend suffering a bad case of blood poisoning, but was now recovering on his couch.

Lawyer Paul McGirr, who recently represented Galloway when the lawyer was found not guilty of driving under the influence of drugs, also ruled out reports of the death.

Lawyer Brett Galloway (let) and Sam Ibrahim in 2014.

“I’ve checked purgatory, I’ve checked the gates of hell and he wasn’t there,” Mr McGirr said. “For completeness, I checked with heaven and they hadn’t heard of him. So it must mean he’s still with us.”

Galloway is best known as the sharp-dressed lawyer whose reputation for cross-examining like a bulldog saw him listed on speed dial for some of the city’s more colourful characters — alleged or otherwise.

He once told Sam Ibrahim that he wouldn’t appear in court because the feared bikie boss — who was threatening to kill him — owed him $50,000 in legal fees.

A short time later, Ibrahim kicked in Galloway’s door and dropped $50,000 cash on his coffee table.

MR KOREA IS BACK

There has been a sighting of a one-time Korean presidential aspirant who set up shop in Sydney, pledged $1 million to the Charlie Teo Foundation and then flew the coop.

NSW Police detectives are looking into allegations Yoo Chan Kim disappeared after taking a $1.25 million “administration fee” from a Sydney investor on the agreement it would be used in a development project that never eventuated, but they haven’t been able to find him.

Around the time Kim was rounding up investors for the project, he made a splash on the Sydney social scene.

In May 2021 he and his wife attended the Charlie Teo Foundation’s Rebel Ball where they publicly pledged a $1 million donation to the charity.

The charity never got the money, and the development that the investor sunk their money into never eventuated.

The Kims haven’t been seen since.

However, on August 18, Kim was pictured holding a bunch of flowers at the Busan HQ of the Asia Federation of Life and Sports.

Snitch has emailed Kim for comment.

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