Country singer hit with fresh charges over alleged property scam
Police will allege the musician ran a scam for 12 years, fleecing 26 victims out of millions of dollars.
A Melbourne country singer has been hit with fresh charges after allegedly scamming 26 people of millions of dollars through a property investment scheme.
Craig Graham Heath, 51, allegedly ran a scam for 12 years before being arrested earlier this year.
Police will allege Mr Heath would approach people pretending to be an established developer, offering to knock down their homes and replace them with townhouses.
Once the funds were handed over to build the townhouses and their developments were bought out by other investors, it’s alleged that Mr Heath would take off without the building works proceedings, taking the money from both the new investors and the original owners.
One of the alleged victims lost $2.1million in the scam, police say.
In one alleged incident, Mr Heath is accused of using a false letter of authorisation stating he was owed $25 million for the sale of machinery in an attempt for a buyers agent to purchase a $2.7 million property on his behalf in April last year.
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Mr Heath has now been charged with a total of 49 offences, including using false documents, obtaining financial advantage by deception and possessing a drug of dependence.
He received bail and will appear at Melbourne Country Court on 13 June.