Melbourne’s drug crooks: Kristiana Karakostas, Jessica Legg and Aravinda Mathuran
They were all high-flyers with plum jobs –— until their shady double lives as drug dealers were exposed. See what happened to these disgraced Melbourne professionals.
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An insurance broker, an auctioneer and a former Coca Cola officer are among Melbourne’s business professionals exposed as drug mules.
Some of the former high-flyers are out of a gig and serving jail time after their sentences were handed down in court earlier this year.
Last month, Leader reported Caulfield North lawyer Patrick Lennon, who has previously represented the likes of underworld figure Mick Gatto and jockey Danny Nikolic, was arrested for alleged ice trafficking in July.
He is set to face court on various drug charges later this month.
Here’s some other professionals and business owners who have had their double lives exposed for similar offences.
CARNEGIE
This painter is spending at least two years behind bars after he was intercepted by police at the start of the year.
Officers pulled him over in Highett on January 2 and found a small quantity of butanediol — a substance similar to GHB also known as ‘bute’ — and two MDMA tablets in his ute.
They then found more than 9kg of ‘bute’ when they later raided his Carnegie unit.
The court heard Cintolo had turned to heavy drug use following a relationship breakdown. At one stage his painting business had employed up to 15 staff.
Handing down his verdict, County Court Judge Scott Johns said Cintolo — who had already spent 265 days in custody — was a “user and trafficker” rather than trafficking to make money.
Judge Johns jailed Cintolo for a maximum of three years and six months.
GLEN IRIS
Karakostas, an award-winning auctioneer, was busted trying to traffic cocaine to her reality TV contestant schoolfriend in 2017.
Investigators noticed an ad on classifieds website Craigslist which included the term “Grab some White VIP for $350”.
They launched a month-long secret operation and Karakostas sold an undercover cop a bag of cocaine for $350 in a carpark behind Mount Waverley’s Shell service station on February 22, 2017.
Officers then arrested Karakostas at her workplace a few weeks later on March 15, just as friend Georgia Tripos arrived at the office.
Karakostas was caught with more than 6g of cocaine, drug paraphernalia, tick notes and more than $3000 cash.
A raid of her Glen Iris home later found more than 20g of the drug, digital scales and a quantity of a drug similar to MDMA.
The court heard Karakostas was “severely addicted” to cocaine and had made 49 offers to sell the drug and moved nearly 70g between February 2 and March 10, 2017.
The Real Estate Institute of Victoria stripped her of her membership when she pleaded guilty to trafficking charges in the County Court in June 2020.
Later that month, Judge Irene Lawson sentenced Karakostas to a three-year community corrections order and 150 hours unpaid community service.
Tripos, an ex-contestant on The Bachelor, also had cocaine found at her St Kilda home, and will face court on separate charges on November 9.
CARRUM DOWNS
Nisi was a plasterer who tried to fund his dream of becoming a video game creator by running a cannabis crop house.
He used a rented Chelsea Heights home to cultivate more than 100 cannabis plants and produce dried cannabis, which was uncovered by police on September 19, 2019.
Officers later raided Nisi’s Carrum Downs home and found 129g of the drug, a watch and nearly $45,000 cash.
In a County Court hearing this year, Nisi said he used income through his plumbing business to fund the cannabis growing system.
He was hoping to use cash he earnt selling the drug to fund studies so he could start a new career as a video game creator.
Judge Frank Gucciardo jailed Nisi for a maximum of six years and ordered him to pay back $47,500 in stolen electricity costs.
BLACKBURN NORTH
Legg had worked in a plum role with Coca Cola for years, previously managed the body corporate in her dad’s factory, and also raised money for cancer research at Monash Health.
But her secret drug pedalling activities were exposed when she police found she had sold meth to an eastern suburbs tradie they had under surveillance in 2017.
They set up a tandem operation and found Legg was doing deals out of her Blackburn North home, a leased Bayswater storage unit and various Bunnings, Woolworths and McDonalds carparks.
She was eventually arrested at her home in August 2018 and officers also seized cash and quantities of meth and bute they found inside.
In a County Court hearing in September 2020, the court heard she had moved 35g of meth, 1.8l of bute and 48 Valium tablets while police had her under surveillance.
Legg pleaded guilty to multiple counts of drug trafficking, and Judge Gregory Lyon sentenced her to eight months’ jail and a two-year community corrections order.
GLEN IRIS
This former insurance broker had more than one side to him — he also was a part-time actor and appeared in Neighbours, Wentworth and commercials for Carlton Draught and Sportsbet.
He went to school in Mt Waverley and spent seven years in positions with MBA Insurance Services, including as a senior account executive.
But things came undone for Mathuran last year when 15 parcels of drugs intercepted by the Australian Border Force were found to be linked to Stefan Perera, an alias he created.
The parcels contained MDMA, cocaine and ketamine which had a street value of $40,000.
Police raided Mathuran’s Glen Iris home in February 2019 where they found drugs, mobile phones, fake IDs and more than $2000 cash.
He pleaded guilty to importing and trafficking drugs later that year and was sentenced in the County Court in July 2020.
Judge Scott Johns declared Mathuran had “descended into a party lifestyle” and committed “serious criminality”.
He sentenced Mathuran to 39 months jail — with 21 months wholly suspended.
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