Sydney socialites who spiralled into a life of crime
They became household names and were praised in the spotlight but for some of Sydney’s most wealthy celebrities, their picture perfect lives came crashing down. This is how it all went wrong.
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They appeared to have it all – be it fast motorbikes, mansions, fame or exotic holidays.
But behind their glamorous lives, these Sydneysiders were hiding a very dark secret. Here is how they all went from cashed-up lifestyles to the pits of a courtroom.
The Daily Telegraph was in court documenting their cautionary tales over a wide array of offences, with many subjected to dressing-downs by magistrates and judges fed up with their behaviour.
Rachel Chami
With good looks and an enviable job working as a flight-attendant for high-end airline Emirates, Sydney girl Rachel Chami seemingly had the world at her feet.
But a court heard the 26-year-old globetrotting model also had another secret source of income in the city's illegal underground drug trade.
Her future prospects were put on the line when she was caught dealing cocaine in the eastern suburbs during a major police drug blitz in November 2018.
After being arrested in Double Bay, Chami pleaded guilty at Downing Centre Local Court to supplying a prohibited drug and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Court documents stated police conducting a special operation pulled over Chami and searched her car, finding 18.5g of cocaine — with an estimated street value of $5000 — in the driver’s foot-well beneath a carpet.
In July last year, Chami was sentenced to a 10-month intensive corrections order, meaning she would have to live under strict conditions in the community.
Jarrod Mullen
Few falls from grace have been as tragic as ex-Newcastle Knights captain Jarrod Mullen’s.
The 32-year-old went from being one of the NRL’s brightest stars to a cocaine addict and convicted drug dealer.
Last February, he dodged a potential maximum jail sentence of up to 15 years for dealing more than $10,000 worth of cocaine and was given a two-year community corrections order by Wollongong Local Court magistrate Jillian Kiely.
Mullen had pleaded guilty last December to supplying cocaine after police covertly captured him buying 39g of the addictive drug over four times in November 2018.
The former halfback played more than 200 matches for the Knights after debuting in 2005, represented NSW in State of Origin and was once said to be the next Andrew Johns.
Instead, his career was cut short in 2017 when he received a four-year ban after testing positive for steroids, which was the beginning of his downward spiral.
The court heard Mullen started selling cocaine for $300 a gram to finance his own drug addiction, which came to a head when his parents found him overdosed on their couch.
“Not only has he personally and professionally hit rock bottom, he almost died from an accidental overdose and now suffers from permanent hearing loss,” Ms Kiely told the court.
“That would have served as an extreme wake-up call.”
Defence lawyer Paul McGirr had earlier told the court Mullen’s downfall was an “extremely sad situation”.
“He was one of Newcastle’s favourite sons. He now doesn’t even want to return to the area.”
Sonja Christian
At first she claimed she was a sex worker when asked by police why a man had got into her car in Bondi.
But Sonja Christian’s story soon fell apart when officers uncovered 24.8g of cocaine — worth at least $7200 on the streets — hidden in her bra in May last year.
The glamorous 25-year-old, who has a passion for fast motorbikes, was arrested during a clampdown in Sydney’s east, where police only had to sit on street corners and wait to try and detect drug deals.
According to police facts tendered to Waverley Local Court, officers saw the man enter Christian’s Honda Civic for less than a minute before they intercepted him and found two bags of cocaine.
Officers then intercepted Christian, who said the man was in her Honda was because “she was a prostitute” and that she “knew nothing about prohibited drugs”.
But the court heard a search by police uncovered 24.8g of cocaine in her bra, 9g of cocaine in her handbag and 1.4g on the man, with a combined street value of more than $10,000.
Christian — who had pleaded guilty to supplying prohibited drugs — escaped jail time last September and was instead sentenced to a twelve-month intensive correction order.
Vera Zinger
Instagram model Vera Zinger has amassed more than 125,000 online followers by sharing scintillating posts of swimwear shoots, gym workouts and overseas travel.
But the 23-year-old’s world came crashing down when was caught moonlighting as a drug dealer during a Christmas cocaine crackdown across Sydney.
Last November, Zinger was pulled over in Barangaroo and police allegedly found four bags containing 2g of drugs and $2150 cash in her car.
In March, she was convicted of drug supply and sentenced to a 13-month intensive corrections order in Downing Centre Local Court after pleading guilty to multiple charges.
As part of the strict order, Magistrate Roger Prowse said Zinger must undergo psychological treatment and counselling from her doctor for a period determined by him.
Zinger remains active on Instagram after her brush with the law and last week posted a picture of a Versace shopping bag with the caption: “quite impossible to walk out without buying something”.
Stephanie Daran
Stephanie Daran is a pilates instructor in the eastern suburbs with clients ranging from NRL players to politicians.
But the reputation she has built in 22 years in the fitness industry was potentially put at risk when police raided her Dover Heights home and charged her with drug supply last year.
Daran, 45, faced Waverley Local Court last January after pleading guilty to a number of charges, including supplying a prohibited drug, over the incident in February 2019.
The court was told Daran had pleaded guilty to the supply charge only because police found more than 4g of cocaine, which is higher than the trafficable quantity of 3g.
However, the mother told the court she did not supply the drug but used it about every two weeks including with her now-estranged husband, who she said had told her he wanted a divorce on their wedding anniversary and a week before her court appearance.
“We would get it roughly every second weekend,” she told the court.
The court was told Daran’s husband had previously pleaded guilty to drug supply after the raid.
A less than impressed Magistrate Greg Grogin placed Daran on an 18-month community corrections order.
“A person who teaches pilates one would assume would have good health at the centre of their teachings and instruction,” he said.
Court records showed Daran lodged an appeal and she remains before the courts.
Matthew Doyle
Party boy Matthew Doyle’s possible destination of jail is poles apart from the parties of Sydney's exclusive east, where he would often mix with his ritzy mates.
Last March, the 31-year-old pleaded guilty to his role for intending to supply more than 300kg of cocaine in a sting set up by police between April and September last year.
According to facts released by the NSW District Court, detectives had been listening in to Doyle as he planned to receive the 300kg of cocaine worth about $80 million.
The court documents state Doyle said he “was not a gangster but a businessman and loved money and loved making money for people and making friends”.
But the world of Doyle and his co-accused associates came crashing down last year when police arrested him and two co-accused at a Marrickville storage unit allegedly trying to access a 50kg cocaine shipment after the five-month operation.
Before their arrest, Doyle and his glamorous wife Kelsea, a socialite and publicist who once worked for fashion brand Camilla and Marc, enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle and a growing property portfolio across Sydney.
Kelsea Doyle is not accused of having any involvement in the international drug plot.
Supreme Court documents show Doyle was involved in residential properties and developments worth millions of dollars at the time of his sensational fall from grace.
That portfolio, including shares in 16 companies and a series of expensive cars, were among assets seized by authorities.
He is behind bars on remand and will be sentenced at a later date.
Harriet Wran
Born into NSW political royalty, Harriet Wran crashed and burned following a drawn-out battle with ice addiction.
The 31-year-old daughter of former Premier Neville Wran has started to try and rebuild her life working for Sydney real estate agent John McGrath after a highly-publicised stint in jail.
Late last year, she was working as a receptionist in the Pyrmont head office of the company.
"Harriet has been a delight to have in our work environment,” McGrath Estate Agents chief executive officer Geoff Lucas previously told The Daily Telegraph.
“She is a very talented person who is extremely professional in her outlook and interacts terrifically with everyone.”
Ms Wran did two years in jail after pleading guilty to being an accessory to the murder of drug dealer Daniel McNulty at a Redfern unit in 2014.
The NSW Supreme Court was told she was living on the streets and addicted to the powerful drug ice before the killing by her then boyfriend.
Last year, Wyong Local Court was told she relapsed and was arrested on the Central Coast when police found her in possession of drug paraphernalia, a small amount of ice and stolen credit cards.
She was given a 12-month community corrections order and fined $550 after pleading guilty to possessing drugs and stolen goods.
Phillip De Angelis
The son of a wealthy pub baron famously avoided jail over violent offending against his former socialite girlfriend before breaching his strict court order late last year.
Phillip De Angelis — son of hotelier Arch De Angelis — pleaded guilty to five charges of domestic violence, including reckless wounding and common assault, against well-known interior designer Nellie Tilley in 2015 and 2016 and was sentenced to an 18-month intensive corrections order.
Local Court magistrate Philip Stewart labelled it a “cowardly, disgraceful” campaign against Ms Tilley and said “no penalty other than imprisonment is appropriate”.
The court was told De Angelis punched Ms Tilley in the mouth in the back of a taxi in one incident and threw a cigarette lighter at her head, leaving a permanent scar, during another.
In a victim impact statement given to the court, Ms Tilley said: “how do I measure the impact of my sons watching their mother change from a confident, positive, happy woman to an anxious, edgy, sad and highly strung mum?"
“How do I measure the impact of being socially ostracised for coming forward?" she wrote.
In 2018, Magistrate Stewart ruled De Angelis was suitable for home detention, meaning he could serve his sentence inside his multimillion-dollar waterfront apartment in Bondi.
But his legal team successfully appealed the home detention provision in his sentence in March 2019.
District Court Judge Sharon Norton ultimately found home detention “does not assist him to obtain the treatment he needs” for rehabilitation, which he started after he was charged.
De Angelis promised to the court he would refrain from drugs and alcohol for two years but last December he was caught drink-driving while talking on his phone after a drinking session at a pub in Petersham.
He was convicted in Downing Centre Local Court for the driving offence and his original intensive corrections order expires in September.
Richard Buttrose
Richard Buttrose – the nephew of media identity and ABC chair Ita – served nine years in prison for cocaine supply and was released from jail in 2017.
The 47-year-old did nine years from a 12-year sentence after he was caught with a 6kg bag of cocaine and more than $1.3 million in cash.
Since walking free, he has put his new qualifications he studied in jail to use, including a MBA in finance.
Buttrose now helms a legal advice business advocating for people who don't have the money to afford lawyers.
“I think the road to redemption started the second I got arrested,” he previously told The Saturday Telegraph earlier this year.
“Prison taught me about life, politics and the art of negotiation. It taught me about patience and it made me resilient.
“But most importantly it opened my eyes to the ravages of drug abuse in society and how it adversely affects so many lives. There were many times when I reflected on what I’d done and it embarrassed me. I mean, really, what the hell was I thinking?”
Buttrose started selling drugs when his dealer urged him to sell cocaine to his mates in the late 2000s.
“Before I knew it, what started as supplying small amounts to friends ended up being something significantly bigger,” he said.
In prison, he came across high-profile inmates including former politicians Eddie Obeid and Milton Orkopoulos as well as “almost everyone from every Underbelly series”, including Evangelos “The Running Man” Goussis.
Oliver Curtis
Oliver Curtis became the country’s most famous insider trader after spending a year in jail for his offending.
Curtis was jailed in June 2016 for a scam hatched with a former private school mate that raked in more than $1.4m in profits.
Found guilty in the NSW Supreme Court for conspiring to commit insider trading on 45 separate occasions, Curtis received a maximum sentence of two years with a minimum of 12 months.
The court heard the pair spent the profits on luxury vehicles, gambling, overseas holidays and to pay the rent on a $3000-a-week Bondi apartment.
Walking out of Cooma jail in mid-2017, Curtis met his high-profile publicist wife Roxy Jacenko and the couple’s two children Pixie and Hunter, who were waiting in a chartered jet.
Ms Jacenko has said previously she told their children he was “away on business” when he was behind bars.