Shane Charter sells mansion to pay legal bills

THE convicted drug dealer linked to the AFL supplements scandal is selling his fortress home to raise $3.5m towards legal costs.

Shane Charter

SHANE Charter, the convicted drug dealer alleged to have supplied peptides to the Essendon Football Club, is selling his fortress home in Melbourne to raise $3.5 million towards legal costs.

The biochemist has this week provided evidence to anti-doping agency ASADA, believed to relate to his dealings with sports scientist Stephen Dank who is at the centre of investigations involving supplement use at the club. Dank has previously denied any wrongdoing and says everything he gave players was aboard board.

Mr Charter - once known as Dr Ageless - expects the house in Sunbury to appeal to security conscious buyers.

It is built into the side of a hill and its exterior walls are 200mm reinforced concrete. There are steel fittings and bars on the windows and the house's upstairs and downstairs zones can be cut off from each other with a key-access internal lift.

Charter

"It's a bunker. You could set off a bomb there and nothing would move,'' Charter said.

The home is wired with five security cameras that share their vision with Mr Charter's iPhone and iPad.

But the tight security didn't foil a recent break-in at the house at 150a Vineyard Rd, when the house was burgled while Mr Charter was holidaying in Phuket.

Charter

The group used angle grinders and drills to gain access - the kind of thing you would certainly notice if you were home, Mr Charter said.

But the five-bedroom house has many luxury features apart from tight security. There is also a pool, tennis court, spa and luxurious open-plan living and dining space. There's also the land - more than 6ha of it.

Charter

Originally he planned to keep the open space for his children, but after urban growth boundary changes the front section of the property is cleared to be subdivided into 20 lots, according to Christian Lonzi from Frank Dowling Real Estate.

“Of the 15 acres, five are in the urban growth area boundary,'' Mr Lonzi said.

Although an enterprising individual may find another use for all the space.

Charter

Charter has a large amount of space set up for high-end football training - with local clubs taking advantage of the facilities to help players prepare for potential AFL draft selection.

The boundary change and amount of land available is the key driver of his anticipated $3.5 million price tag, likely to be split between legal costs and recovering uninsured items stolen in the recent break-in.

"We have hit some financial hurdles with all these dramas and legal costs," Mr Charter said.

"And 80 per cent of the loss was uninsured, there was $50,000 to $60,000 in jewellery - and we got $5,000 back.

"Like a lot of people, I never took the time and effort upgrade the insurance policy to what it should have been.'

A sale at the $3.5 million mark will mark an almost 10-fold increase in the property's value for Mr Charter, who bought it for $300,000 about 10 years ago.

"You have got to have a win sometime, it's all swings and roundabouts,'' he said.