Gold Coast Crime: Ex-rich lister Craig Gore to appeal fraud conviction

Disgraced ex-rich lister Craig Gore has launched an appeal against his $350,000 fraud conviction, arguing the judge who found him guilty misinterpreted multiple documents.

DISGRACED ex-rich lister Craig Gore has launched an appeal against his $350,000 fraud conviction, arguing the judge who found him guilty misinterpreted a number of financial documents in the case.
Gore was earlier this year found guilty of using self-managed super fund investors money to pay company debts and rent on his Queensland home.

The 53-year-old faced a judge-alone trial in the Brisbane District Court over 12 counts of fraud, which is alleged to have occurred between 2013-14 at Southport.

Craig Gore at the Brisbane Supreme Court in July. Picture: Tertius Pickard.

Gore, who is the son of Sanctuary Cove developer Mike Gore, was in October found guilty of six counts engaging in the fraud for the benefit of the companies Arion Financial and Arion Group through the high-interest debentures scheme.

He was on Wednesday sentenced to five years’ jail after Judge Michael Byrne found he had showed “no remorse” for the deliberate fraud.

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Gore will serve two years behind bars before his sentence will be suspended.

But on November 17, lawyers for Gore lodged a bid to the Queensland Court of Appeal to have the conviction overturned, arguing the verdict against the twice-bankrupt Gold Coast businessman was unreasonable and could not be supported by the evidence in the trial.

Craig Gore at Sanctuary Cove in 2018. Picture: Adam Head.

Gore will argue that a miscarriage of justice occurred during his judge-alone trial, which was held without a jury during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The appeal documents allege Judge Byrne failed to apply the “same principles of law and procedure as would be applied in a trial before a jury”.

It claims there was insufficient evidence to show Arion was indebted to the ATO during the period of the offending and that Gore had any knowledge the company could have struggled to repay money invested.

The trial heard investors allegedly received contact from a man named “Craig” who encouraged them to invest money in a “debenture scheme”.

Craig Gore at Indy in 2008 after seeing Will Power crash out. Picture: News Corp Australia.

The man, who the crown alleged was Craig Gore, told the super fund holders of a 90-day rolling “low-risk” investment scheme that would return 8.25 per cent on their investment.

The court heard the money was never returned to investors, but withdrawn from the bank account it was paid into within two weeks of its deposit.

A hearing will be listed in the Queensland Court of Appeal at a later date.