Eye-watering deposit put down by high-profile businessman before Portsea mansion destroyed by fire

A businessman with links to high-ranking bikies paid an eye-watering deposit for a seaside mansion before changing his mind and asking for his cash back. Luckily for him, a fire ultimately sent the deal up in smoke.

A colourful businessman with links to high-ranking bikies put down a significant deposit on a lavish Portsea mansion before it mysteriously burnt to the ground.

David “Hollywood” Deicke, a former boxer, is believed to have paid $800,000 to secure the multimillion-dollar property in April this year, but later wanted out of the deal and asked for his cash back.

It is understood Mr Deicke was advised he would lose the deposit if he did not proceed with the rumoured $8m sale.

Last month, the three-storey, six-bedroom, five bathroom house on a huge 6000 square meters of land close to the beach was razed to the ground.

No one was home at the time and the Country Fire Authority is still trying to determine the cause of the 11pm blaze.

However, at this stage, it does not believe the fire was suspicious and the Herald Sun is not suggesting otherwise.

In a fortunate twist of fate for Mr Deicke, his deposit money can now be repaid in full, as he is not able to purchase the mansion as listed.

The home is owned by controversial former pathology group chief executive Wallace Cameron, who will now need to claim on insurance for the loss.

He had previously listed the Franklin Road house for sale for $9.5m before taking it off the market in 2021.

To ensure any future payout, Mr Deicke placed a caveat on the house 11-days after the ferocious fire.

Former national president of the Comanchero Fidel Tukel (L) with smash repair businessman David Deicke (R)

Locals have told the Herald Sun a young man had been staying at the property on the weekend of the fire, but he left after being spooked by four men dressed in black hoodies and wearing backpacks getting out of a car on the dead-end dirt track road at night.

The next day, at 11.10pm, the fire started.

CFA says the blaze is non-suspicious but is still completing a ‘fire investigation report’ to determine the cause. The Herald Sun is not suggesting Mr Deicke was involved in the fire.

The house has been completely destroyed.

All that remains is the tennis court and swimming pool with a stone pool house.

Mr Deicke, 47, is the half-brother of five-time world champion boxer Lester Ellis and also uses the name David Ellis and David Becks.

Boxer Lester Ellis. Picture: Roger Gould

Smash repair businessman David Deicke. Picture: Supplied

He currently owns several smash repair businesses across the state.

In 2010, Mr Deicke was nearly killed by Finks bikies after allegedly selling one of their associates a Range Rover which had a debt of $80,000 still owing to a finance company.

His company suffered two drive-by shootings before he was stabbed twice.

Mr Deicke did not report the incident to police but did ask former Comanchero president Fidel Tukel in Sydney for help.

He declined.

Tukel is related to one of the world’s most wanted men, drug trafficker Hakan Ayik, and counts gang heavy weights Mark Buddle, Ali Bazzi and Daux Ngakuru as close friends.

Mr Deicke is pictured socialising with Tukel, Buddle, Bazzi and Ngakuru.

Tukel is also the godfather to the oldest son of New Zealand’s national Comanchero boss, Pasilika Naufahu.

In 2014, two Comanchero members beat a man to a pulp in a daylight attack at Deicke’s Collingwood smash repair businesses on Johnston Street.

Vincent Meyer and Hawre Sherwani were captured on CCTV kicking, punching and stomping on their victim as he lay motionless on the floor.

Sherwani received six years in prison for the brutal attack while Meyer – the son of feared former sergeant-at-arms Norm Meyer – eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and received 18-months in jail.

Vincent and Norm Meyer. Picture: Supplied

No allegations of wrongdoing were made against Deicke over the incident.

And just last year Deicke was linked to an alleged scheme where third party insurers get hold of people’s claims, their personal details and charge the customer exorbitant fees to fix their vehicle, even though they are the innocent party in a crash.

ASIC laws were recently changed in light of the loophole.

Wallace Cameron, the Portsea homeowner, is also no stranger to controversy.

The tax lawyer and former St Kilda board member sold his pathology group Gribbles in 2004 for $121m. He left the business still refusing to tell corporate regulator ASIC who owned 43 per cent of Gribbles shares held in a Belgian trust called EC Medical Investments.

Mr Cameron later admitted his three adult children – Alisdair Cameron, Andrew Cameron and Fiona Ricklow – owned the trust and were receiving dividends from the business.

He was convicted of seven charges, fined $16,000, ordered to pay costs of $4,000 and disqualified from managing corporations for five years.

It was previously reported Mr Cameron did not have a driving licence and never drove a car in his life – rendering the former six-car garage at the Portsea property redundant.

198 Franklin Road, Portsea. Picture: Supplied

198 Franklin Road, Portsea. Picture: Supplied

The home was owned by controversial businessman Wallace Cameron, before the 10 September 2023 blaze. Picture: Supplied

The CFA said 16 units responded to the house fire at 11.16pm on September 10.

“Units responded from Bayswater, Rye, Balnarring, Flinders, Main Ridge, Mount Martha, Cranbourne, Peninsula Group, Sorrento, Rosebud, Red Hill and Narre Warren,” a CFA spokesman said.

“Crews discovered a three-storey house fully involved in fire. (The) incident was deemed safe at 3:28am.

Much of the home was destroyed by the blaze. Picture: Jon Kaila

“Investigators have deemed the fire to be non-suspicious.”

Mr Deicke said he was not buying the property and had no interest in it.

He said he had another property in Portsea, but claimed he “did not know anything” about 198 Franklin Road.

When told he signed a contract to buy it in April and placed a caveat on the house in September, he said: “Really? I’ll have to ask my accountant about it.”

He added: “Nothing to do with me, bud. Nothing at all.

Mr Deicke then hung up.

*Additional reporting by Lucy Callander