WA businessman Chris Marco pleads not guilty to 50 fraud charges

A man accused of defrauding nine investors of $36.5m in an alleged Ponzi scheme will go to trial in the Supreme Court.

A West Australian businessman accused of defrauding nine investors of $36.5m in an alleged Ponzi scheme has entered pleas of not guilty to 50 fraud charges in a Perth court.

Chris Marco, 65, appeared before Stirling Gardens Magistrates court in person on Wednesday alongside co-accused and his former personal assistant, Linda Marissen.

Ms Marissen is facing 34 charges of person with intent to defraud obtains property from any person over her alleged involvement through the company of her former boss, AMS Holdings (WA) Pty Ltd.

Chris Marco has pleaded not guilty to 50 charges. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Anthony Anderson

Lawyers Luka Margaretic and Gerald Yin, who represent Mr Marco and Ms Marissen respectively, entered the not-guilty pleas on behalf of their clients.

The matter will now go to trial, with bail renewed for both Mr Marco and Ms Marissen under the same terms until their first appearance before the WA Supreme Court on November 6.

Trial dates were not set.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) alleges the fraud occurred between July 2013 and October 2018 through an unregistered investment scheme.

ASIC further alleges at least one investor was conned out of $10m.

Classic cars owned by Mr Marco were sold off by liquidators at auction after AMS Holdings (WA) Pty Ltd was wound up.

In a previous hearing for Mr Marco, the Commonwealth prosecutor claimed there were about 160,000 documents to sift through in relation to the case.

The maximum penalty, if convicted, for each offence of fraud under the Criminal Code WA is seven years imprisonment or 10 years if the person deceived is 60 years or older.