Deadline: How conman lawyer John Adams drew friends into Ponzi scheme
As the toxic fallout continues from what is still emerging as Australia’s biggest Ponzi scheme scandal, wine buffs may tip their hat to John Adams’ modus operandi for luring investors.
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Andrew Rule and Mark Buttler with the latest scallywag scuttlebutt.
How conman drew friends into Ponzi
The toxic fallout from what is still emerging as Australia’s biggest Ponzi scheme scandal continues to drift over Melbourne’s better postcodes after the sudden death of Ivanhoe lawyer and former AFL powerbroker John Adams last month.
At the time of writing, at least three groups of angry and anxious investors have sought legal advice or are considering their options.
Some relatives of Adams’ allegedly close friend, late Strathmore pharmacist Maurie Drew, are deeply unhappy at their dead dad’s name being dragged through Adams’ dirty laundry.
Others from that family say it’s about time the truth came out, citing Adams’ willingness to assist Drew to duck the terms of his terminally ill wife’s will after said wife reputedly died of a prescription drug overdose.
If that is even partially true, it throws up a wonderful case of the biter being bitten by Adams, an equal opportunity snake in the grass.
The allegation is that Adams agreed to doctor documents and give highly coloured evidence to support a claim on the Drew family house — but, allegedly, only if the proceeds were invested in his mortgage loan scheme. That being the one that has gone belly up and cost a lot of people tens of millions.
The gossip is that a tidy fortune was dropped on the Ponzi scheme. It might have been a mere small fortune.
It appears that the Adams modus operandi over decades was to pour much fine red wine into regulars (and their guests) at his twice-weekly lunches — and then do “business” after lunch, when financial realities seemed cosier than they actually were.
One former Adams “friend” tells Deadline he has been battling for at least two years to retrieve $3m he loaned Adams over time. He has had another lawyer chasing Adams for at least two years.
This unfortunate man and his Kew-based accountant are anguished about being taken down by someone they thought they knew so well and once trusted so much.
For what it’s worth, the signature booze at Adams’ boozy lunches was Penfolds 389, the shiraz known in the gargling game as “baby Grange”.
Wine buffs describe 389 in glowing terms such as “Savoury and salivating … licorice, stewed plum and blackcurrant fruits, with dark chocolate and mocha lurking in the background.”
Which is all very well. But the fact is that no matter who bought it or brought it, the Adams “guests” were paying a high price for the baby Grange.
An intriguing postscript to the Adams scandal is that so many high-profile and heavyweight people in business, entertainment, football and racing have got in touch with Herald Sun reporters about it.
Not because these callers are involved in any way, of course, but they all seem deeply interested in John Adams’ fall from grace for reasons of their own.
Meaning not everyone loved him, although obviously too many did.
Among those who are intrigued by Adams’ demise are a Simon, an Eddie, a Harold, an Ian, and a Gerry. But no word from Andrew.
Wrong mushroom place, wrong mushroom time
Timing is everything, especially in the world of crime.
Three teenagers found themselves facing an extraordinary amount of media scrutiny over an (alleged) burglary on a home in South Gippsland last week — because, to be frank, their timing was lousy.
Our colleague, Athos Sirianos, was part of a massive contingent of reporters, photographers and camera operators on the spot with notebooks, lenses and microphones locked and loaded as police hauled the trio out of a property in Gibson St, Leongatha.
Why all the attention?
Well, truth is it wasn’t intended for them.
The woman who lived next door (until Thursday morning) was Erin Patterson, the one at the centre of the mushroom poisoning case. And news had just broken that she had been arrested over the deaths of three dinner guests and the alleged attempted murders of another visitor and her husband.
That is when the three would-be burglars (allegedly) decided to “burg” the house next door. They were dragged out, handcuffed and covered in mud, and must have wondered what kind of a slow news day was going on when the media pack descended on them.
South Gippslanders will be pleased to know that despite the mushroom case with its Midsomer Murders vibe right there in picturesque Leongatha, the grubby alleged burglars were from over the hills in the not-so-picturesque Latrobe Valley — Warragul and Morwell, to be precise.
Smoked Fish Creek footy club
Speaking of alleged villains roaming South Gippsland, one or two of them have committed an act of sacrilege — torching the venerable Fish Creek footy club down in them there hills.
Locals are horrified at this destruction, which they tend to attribute to some would-be burglar who’s seen too much television and so burns the place down to destroy clues.
Fish Creek is a farming district that has produced plenty of handy footballers in a century that produced 37 flags for the club.
And it has produced some very good ones, such as Bulldogs’ best and fairest Ian Dunstan. Also at Footscray was Leo Ryan, who played more than 100 games in the big league.
Then there is Adelaide’s Wayne Weidemann, Bulldogs’ key position player Barry Standfield and Suns up and comer Sam Flanders.
Back home, sorrowful locals have been left shaking their heads at the smoking ruin and the cretins who did the damage.
As a wise defence lawyer (later a judge) once told Deadline, if these idiots simply wore gloves and masks they wouldn’t have to shoot witnesses or torch everything.
Forgive me, father, for I have sinned
Not many of us escape the attention of the phone scammers who infest society.
Who knows where these parasites get our numbers but they’re out there, working around the clock to separate us from our cash.
Now, Deadline can reveal even men of the cloth are not spared from their sins.
We’ve seen a series of text messages sent to a Melbourne priest which started off quite menacingly.
“$400 will be sent to that same number you sent me today. Only doing it because we seriously arnt (sic) dogs, but f—ing lucky we are doing that for what use (sic) did last night. Won’t be till about 1-2 in the morning.”
The message, whatever it was, was reinforced soon after with: “After that we don’t want to hear from use or anything, goes both ways.”
Another text quickly cleared up some detail.
“We arnt gonna send it till we get confirmation from you either,” it read.
Then came a rapid change of tack with the next two messages saying “I am so sorry” and “Wrong number.”
In response, the clerical victim wrote: “Well, yep definitely wrong number. Don’t worry. All Fine. I hope you’re OK.
“You’ve actually messaged a priest. So, will pray all works out. Go well. 👍”
To which the scammer made the only appropriate response.
“Omg I am so sorry.”
A jolly fine name
There must be some gnashing of teeth among the anti-gambling brigade about a South Australian horse currently showing some promise.
It’s named Losesomewinmore, an apparent play on the safe wagering message that “You win some, you lose more.”
The Richard and Chantelle Jolly-trained son of All Too Hard was certainly the punter’s pal last start.
He saluted at Morphettville for those brave enough to take the $1.35 on offer. At those odds… Lose some, win not much.
Al’s pal raising hell
Deadline mentioned a couple of weeks back that the main Marcellin College sports field was informally known as the Alphonse Gangitano oval, in honour of the former student who turned bad after dark in Lygon St.
Unfortunately, one proud old boy (as in a former Marcellin student, not a senior citizen) who works in the big end of town has become most indignant about such flippant use of Big Al’s name.
This highly-refreshed fellow recently subjected Deadline to a lengthy rant in a public bar about how upset he and his WhatsApp group of private school chums were about the naming rights allegations.
He pointed out that there were actually four ovals at the school (nice for some) and asserted none were named after Gangitano.
The concept of an informal name seemed to evade him, given he was by this time flying as high as punchy polly Tim Smith back when the latter pranged his new Jag into the fence of a Hawthorn house. Like Smith, the Marcellin man just won’t give up.
We stand by our story.
The Gangitano Oval is, of course, right up there with the Goanna Stand at Geelong Grammar and the David McMillan chemistry lab at Caulfield Grammar.
Any further contributions along these lines will be gratefully received. The Trinity “Hedgeburners common room” would have a warm ring to it.
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