Lawyer Pat Lennon transferred million-dollar property in unusual transaction to former AFL player’s girlfriend

Under-siege lawyer Pat Lennon has hit the headlines again after it was revealed he transferred a million-dollar property to a former AFL player’s girlfriend in an unusual deal.

Under-siege lawyer Pat Lennon transferred a million-dollar property to a former AFL player’s girlfriend in an unusual transaction involving a bankrupt disgraced doctor, News Corp can reveal.

According to her Facebook page, new owner Hava Brandman, who is charged with offences including trafficking about 30 grams of methamphetamine, is in a relationship with former Carlton player Ron De Iulio, who has himself been found guilty of ice possession.

The property is on Bridge Inn Rd in a fast-growing part of Melbourne’s north and was part of a portfolio that belonged to bankrupt former doctor Nick Sevdalis, who was convicted in 2022 of continuing to practise after being suspended.

Ms Brandman received the property in 2021 through her company, Number 22 Pty Ltd, at the direction of Mr Lennon, who also faces ice charges and is under investigation by the legal regulator.

Melbourne woman Hava Brandman, who according to her Facebook page is the partner of former Carlton player Ron De Iulio. Source – Facebook

She is currently before the courts charged with trafficking meth and butanediol, which is similar to GHB, as well as dealing with proceeds of crime of $1500 and driving down Beaconsfield Pde in St Kilda without a licence on April 6 last year.

Sources say she was in a car with Mr Lennon when he was allegedly found with 11 grams of ice and almost $6000 cash in 2020. He denies the charges.

In April last year, Mr De Iulio was found guilty of possessing 4.67 grams of ice and sentenced to a six-month diversion program after his lawyer told the court he had suffered a stroke, was in hospital and in danger of losing a leg.

Attempts to contact Ms Brandman were unsuccessful: she did not answer calls to seven mobile phone numbers associated with her and no-one was present when News Corp visited her last known address last week.

Because he is bankrupt, Mr Sevdalis’s assets are controlled by his trustee in bankruptcy, Nick Mellos of Grant Thornton.

Mr Mellos told News Corp that Mr Lennon approached him and claimed to have rights to the property because he held a mortgage over it.

Mr Lennon was Dr Sevdalis’s lawyer. His attempts to recover legal fees from Dr Sevdalis’s family have been criticised by the courts.

Mr Mellos said the mortgage over the Bridge Inn Rd property was originally held by an unrelated company called Victorian Mortgage Investments Ltd but in 2012 it was taken over by a company controlled by Mr Lennon.

However, VMIL is still registered on land title records as holding the mortgage, even though it was deregistered in 2016.

Lawyer Pat Lennon. Picture: Ellen Smith

Mr Mellos said he agreed to transfer the property to Mr Lennon because it was worth about $990,000, far less than the approximately $1.5m Mr Lennon said he was owed under the mortgage.

“We said, well, we need to somehow deal with this property in the best interest of the creditors,” he told News Corp.

Dr Sevdalis said the interest on the loan was about 19% and he paid it for “several years”.

He said he didn’t know how long ago he stopped paying interest “but from the $300,000 or so that was the initial amount it got up to $1m or so”.

Mr Lennon did not respond to enquiries. He is currently under investigation by the legal services commissioner following several court findings critical of him and media coverage by News Corp and The Age.