An Australian fraudster who took $49 million from his victims used some of the funds to promote the views of controversial figures in politics.

Queensland “techpreneur” Alan Metcalfe convinced 600 hopeful mum and dads he had found the secret to artificial intelligence hidden in the Bible, and was going to launch a company that would be “bigger than Google”.

When Metcalfe died in 2017, those investors were left asking what happened to all their money in a baffling case now being exposed in a news.com.au investigative podcast, The Missing $49 Million.

And it appears that Metcalfe spent time, money and resources spruiking views he believed in which fell on the right side of politics.

News.com.au previously revealed that the Gold Coast self-proclaimed ‘messiah’ was rubbing shoulders with Tea Party members and MAGA supporters in multiple trips he made over to the United States – and he was doing similar things on home soil.

Metcalfe obtained studios in the Gold Coast where he aired the views of Australians like One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson and the country’s richest woman, Gina Rinehart.

Sydney-based investor Jai Martinkovits first came across Alan Metcalfe when he was involved in the running Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, a group that defends Australia’s status as a monarchy.

“He (Metcalfe) basically had overlapping views there where he wanted to preserve the status quo,” Martinkovits said.

Metcalfe made quite an impression on Martinkovits, who was convinced and put $10,000 into the AI scheme, called Safe Worlds TV.

And through this pro-monarchy group, Metcalfe met someone else heavily involved in Australian conservative politics – David Flint, a well-known conservative commentator.

Flint actually went on to launch a YouTube channel through Safe Worlds TV, called ‘Conversations with Conservatives’.

It was branded with the Safe Worlds logo and was sometimes filmed from the studio Metcalfe had rented for the business in the Gold Coast.

“For me, conservatives are the real conservationists,” Flint said on the channel.

The Missing $49 Million is available to listen to now wherever you get your podcasts. 

Available on Spotify here and Apple Podcasts here.

Do you know more? Get in touch | alex.turner-cohen@news.com.au

Flint told news.com.au he started the Safe Worlds broadcasts to give voice to conservatives who he believes are no longer represented by the mainstream media.

He managed to get Family First senator Bob Day on the program and Christian Democratic Party leader Fred Nile was also a special guest.

Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, also made an appearance in August 2016, stating that the government over-regulated businesses like her own mining empire.

One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson also featured on the channel – but Metcalfe actually went a step further here and actively promoted an election campaign of hers.

There’s a photo news.com.au has obtained of Hanson with Metcalfe, Martinkovits and Flint.

Safe Worlds also posted on social media about a town hall Pauline Hanson was hosting in the lead-up to the 2015 Queensland state election.

Metcalfe’s son Clayton Metcalfe was pictured editing the Pauline Hansen You Tube video at their Gold Coast studios.

So Metcalfe was using his business’s time, resources and money on this. Money that presumably came from his 600 investors.

Hanson declined to comment.

There is no suggestion that Hanson or Rinehart had any business dealings with Metcalfe.

At the time he was alive, Metcalfe was also pictured editing videos of Sarah Palin, a republican presidential nominee called one of the figureheads of the Tea Party movement, for the Safe Worlds channel.

And he did the same with Mike Pence, who went on to become Trump’s vice president.

Once again, resources were going into the production of these videos.

Chris Litsch, a retiree from Western Australia, put $20,000 into Metcalfe’s Safe World scheme.

“I just thought, this is going down some kind of an evangelical, ultra far right wing sort of slot and I didn’t want anything to do with it,” Mr Litsch told news.com.au.

“That really made me question what the hell have I gotten into here.”

He said he is progressive in his political views and “would have run a mile from it” if he’d known his money would go into these conservative projects.

The Missing $49 Million is available to listen to now wherever you get your podcasts. 

Available on Spotify here and Apple Podcasts here.

Do you know more? Get in touch | alex.turner-cohen@news.com.au