Developer couple targeted by ASIC flaunt limos, yacht trip, fine dining

A flashy Gold Coast millionaire couple accused of spending investors’ cash on themselves flaunted their lavish lifestyle on social media in the months before their empire collapsed.

A flashy Gold Coast millionaire couple accused by the corporate cop of spending cash entrusted to them by investors on themselves flaunted their lavish lifestyle on social media in the weeks and months before their empire collapsed.

Ian Omar Chester, 39, and Sophie Sylvia Chester, 29, both former real estate agents from Surfers Paradise, showed off a long lunch of Italian antipasto where they “celebrated their love” at trendy Byron Bay restaurant Raes on Wategos Beach in May, where the tasting menu is $135 a head, and posed relaxing in the sparkling pool at the fashionable Calile Hotel in Brisbane’s bustling James St where rooms average $750 a night.

Ian and Sophie Chester during preparations for Sophie’s 29th birthday on board a yacht in September last year – Photo Supplied Facebook

On July 26 the couple had their assets frozen by Supreme Court Justice Glenn Martin after the corporate cop alleged that Mr Chester had spent property investor funds on personal expenses.

No criminal charges have been laid.

Guam-born Mr Chester, the owner of Vested Property Group Pty Ltd, and his wife Mrs Chester, who live in a $1.47m home in Surfers Paradise, have been temporarily banned by the court from sending any assets overseas, selling property or transferring money from their bank accounts.

The freezing orders came three months after they sold their four-bedroom Budds Beach townhouse for $1.46m where they had lived since 2017, shortly after the two-storey home was built.

The final transfer of the title of the home only occurred in late July, property title records show.

Last month, 13 of Mr Chester’s apartment development companies were tipped into liquidation, with liquidator Terry van der Velde of SV Partners appointed.

More than 100 investors in six of the collapsed companies committed $6.5m to develop unit or townhouse projects across South East Queensland, including one in inner-Brisbane’s Highgate Hill.

Ian and Sophie Chester on holiday – Photo Supplied Facebook

In February, UK-born Mrs Chester, who gave birth to baby Sapphire in May, posed for photos seated in a rattan peacock chair at her lavish pink-and-white-themed baby shower on the Gold Coast for a dozen of her closest friends and family, complete with colour-coordinated cupcakes, flowers, rugs and pillows.

It came just months after Mrs Chester, who used to work at Custom Realty Group at Southport, celebrated her 29th birthday with a white stretch limousine ride to a boozy party on a chartered yacht cruising around the Gold Coast with a dozen friends.

The couple posted photos of a trip to Venice, Italy in 2018 and their his-and-hers BMWs with personalised plates, but in January the couple had to sell Mrs Chester’s black BMW Z4 roadster sports car as it wasn’t practical with baby Sapphire.

Ian and Sophie Chester posing in front of a Mercedes Benz at a dealership – Photo Supplied Facebook

Mr Chester, who used to work at McGraths real estate, boasted about using his Seadoo jetski “every weekend”, surfing for a decade at Greenmount beach on the southern end of the Gold Coast, and showed off posing in front of new Mercedes Benz car in a dealership.

Other snaps show the couple having fun in the sun enjoying local beaches including Mr Chester paddleboarding on the Nerang River, playing the saxophone and posting about blood-pumping bicycle rides around the Gold Coas

Originally published as Developer couple targeted by ASIC flaunt limos, yacht trip, fine dining