Anita Eliezer spends ill-gotten cash on lavish lifestyle and husband’s music and Bollywood projects

A remorseless, dodgy share investor from Canterbury embezzled millions of dollars from her friends — including a couple whose son had died — to fund a lavish lifestyle and to prop up her muso husband’s Bollywood film project.

Anita Eliezer is thought to have spent much of her ill-gotten cash on the film and music projects of her husband, Christie Eliezer. The Leader is not suggesting he has broken the law. Picture: Andrew McMillen

A dodgy investor used millions of dollars of her friends’ money to support her filmmaker husband’s Bollywood movie and live a lavish lifestyle.

Prosecutor Ariadne French told the County Court on March 4 Anita Eliezer, 60, of Canterbury, was once highly regarded in Melbourne’s Sri Lankan community as a skilled share investor.

Between 2006 and 2014 Eliezer conned five of her family friends, who she and her husband, The Music Network writer Christie Eliezer, had known for decades, into handing over millions of dollars to her to invest.

The Leader is not suggesting Mr Eliezer has broken the law.

But she failed to invest a cent of the $6.41 million given to her, Ms French told the court, and when her victims asked for their cash back, they either got partial payments or nothing at all.

A victim impact statement Ms French read to the court on behalf of one of the victims detailed his suspicion that much of the money was wasted on Mr Eliezer’s lofty film and music projects, which included a Bollywood movie.

A second victim, who lost $4.7 million in Eliezer’s Ponzi scheme, read her victim impact statement to the court and said the Eliezers lived a plush lifestyle in Melbourne’s ritzy inner-east filled with designer handbags, expensive cars, business class airfares and overseas jaunts.

“Anita has destroyed me in so many ways,” she told the court.

“The money was my life savings which I had worked so hard to obtain … all these extravagances were paid for by other people’s hard work.”

Another victim, a retiree who lost $575,000, sobbed as he told the court Eliezer’s deception caused him and his wife to lose their life savings and put pressure on their marriage.

But he told the court it was the betrayal of trust, particularly Eliezer’s manipulation of their adult son’s death, for which they’d received an inheritance they planned to use to build a new family home in his memory, hurt the most.

Eliezer asked to invest the money, promising the couple a big return they could use to pay for their new home.

But he said they never got a cent back and were left with mounting debts.

“The manipulation of our grief for our deceased son … that sickens me to my core.”

Ms French told the court Eliezer originally had a stockbroking account with CMC Markets but had not made a single trade since late 2000, years before she convinced her friends to hand over their money.

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Eliezer’s defence barrister Jessica Willard told the court Eliezer was serving prison time for similar offending, for which she was due to be released later this year.

Ms Willard also told the court some of the victims’ money was paid directly into Mr Eliezer’s personal bank account, but Ms French told the court Mr Eliezer was never charged.

Eliezer also pleaded guilty to obtaining property by deception by continuing a criminal enterprise offence.

Judge Elizabeth Gaynor deferred sentencing to March 11.