Ex-Billabong boss Matthew Perrin released from jail a year early
Former business high-flyer and ex-Billabong boss Matthew Perrin has been released from jail, despite not being eligible for parole until next year.
Crime and Court
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EX-BILLABONG boss Matthew Perrin has been mysteriously released from jail despite not being eligible for parole until next year.
The Gold Coast Bulletin can reveal Perrin, 47, spent yesterday enjoying his new-found freedom on the Gold Coast, catching up with his partner Belinda Otton and two of his children, before hitting the gym for a workout.
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Perrin was jailed for eight years for fraud and forgery in 2017.
Attempts last night to find out reasons for his early release could not be answered by authorities.
It’s understood he was released almost exactly a year earlier than his parole eligibility date of June 20, 2020.
Perrin has told those close to him that his early release was “unprecedented” because he was a model prisoner.
Criminal lawyer Bill Potts said it was “extremely rare” for a person to be granted parole early without a terminal illness or extraordinary circumstances.
It is understood an innocent message from a family member on the social media site Snapchat alerted others to his mysterious release with the simple words “He’s out”. The message was quickly deleted.
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Perrin yesterday visited a cafe with children Jake and Larissa, who was one of his biggest supporters throughout his troubles, often accompanying him to court appearances and remaining in close contact during his incarceration.
His other daughter Christie is in Europe with her mother, Perrin’s ex-wife Nicole Bricknell.
Later, Perrin was driven to a Department of Transport office to get a new driver’s licence.
During his days behind bars, Perrin spent time inside Arthur Gorrie, Borallon, Wolston and Palen Creek jails.
He was sentenced to eight years jail after a jury convicted him of forging his ex-wife’s signature to secure a $13.5 million loan secured against his wife’s Cronin Island home on the Gold Coast, which he used to invest in a speculative and ultimately disastrous Chinese supermarket business.
In a Court of Appeal decision in September, 2017, Perrin’s parole eligibility date was listed as being next year.
Perrin hit paydirt after he and brother Scott agreed to buy 49 per cent of Billabong from founders Gordon and Rena Merchant for $35 million in January 1999.
Perrin became CEO and he and brother Scott and wife Nicole later sold $66 million worth of shares in August 2002 and a second tranche for $32 million a year later.
The couple were worth between $75 million and $150 million. They were so wealthy that at one point they bought the house next door, and installed a jetty to launch their collection of Billabong branded water toys.
That was the $15 million six-bedroom trophy home in the exclusive enclave of Cronin Island, behind Surfers Paradise and fronting the Nerang River that he borrowed against.
Perrin was born on the Gold Coast. He went to The Southport School, before graduating from the University of Queensland with a degree in commerce and law.
Perrin initially entered the full-time workforce at a law office but later became a business heavyweight.
He became the managing director of one of Queensland’s then retail success stories, Billabong, had a key role alongside Macquarie Bank in a $3.6 billion attempt to take over the London Stock Exchange, and worked with investment banks Allco and Babcock and Brown in Chinese mall operations.
He was bankrupted owing $42 million in 2009 after the failed Chinese supermarket investment.
A Queensland Corrective Services spokeswoman said that QCS does not grant parole.
Ms Bricknell could not be contacted by The Gold Coast Bulletin last night.
— additional reporting by Vanda Carson and Jeremy Pierce
Originally published as Ex-Billabong boss Matthew Perrin released from jail a year early
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