By Perry Duffin
A Sydney businessman accused of raping 10 women when he allegedly refused to pay them for sex work is gearing up to fight charges he also snuck onto a ritzy, multimillion-dollar yacht and stole boxes of snacks.
Venture capitalist Mark Sarian is sitting in a Sydney prison cell after being denied bail awaiting trial for 32 counts of sexual intercourse without consent, among a raft of other charges, after he allegedly paid sex workers with dud cheques.
Mark Sarian is accused of dozens of sexual crimes against 10 women after he allegedly failed to pay for sex work.
The charges, if proven true, would make Sarian one of the most prolific sex offenders in the state’s history. Sarian intends to fight those charges.
In a second legal battle, Sarian is later this month expected to face court accused of sneaking into a haven of the city’s ultra-wealthy.
Court documents from June, seen by the Herald, allege Sarian gained “unlawful entry” to Elizabeth Bay Marina in late January 2024.
Sarian allegedly then broke into a 75-foot Sunseeker Predator yacht named “Bruce”, which police describe as a “power yacht which holds 12-15 people on board”.
Sarian allegedly snuck onto the luxury power yacht, Bruce, and stole boxes of crackers.
The court documents do not reveal why Sarian allegedly entered Bruce, but he is accused of stealing four boxes of crackers, worth about $20, while aboard.
The snacks are described in court documents as belonging to guests who had rented Bruce for a charter later in the day.
Inside the 75-foot yacht.
The luxurious boat can sleep six people in its three bedrooms, has a full kitchen, dining areas and a swimming platform that can be raised and lowered into the water.
Bruce allows those with a spare $219,000 to also become one of seven shareholder-owners of the yacht.
Sarian’s barrister Brad Williams made no comment when contacted by the Herald.
This masthead in July revealed Sarian was a major test case for a new consent laws designed to protect sex workers from clients who refuse to pay. Under older laws, refusing to pay sex workers in NSW was commonly prosecuted as fraud. But the new laws allow sex workers to revoke consent, retroactively, if a client leaves them an empty envelope or uses other deceptions to deprive them of their agreed fee.
Sarian allegedly organised to have sex with the women, sometimes two at a time and sometimes asking them to urinate on him, before giving them the worthless cheques between February and June 2024, police claim.
The NSW Police Sex Crimes Squad established Strike Force Angla and arrested Sarian in May. He has remained in custody ever since.
Last month Angla added two charges of fraud to Sarian’s case. He has yet to enter formal pleas.
Sarian describes himself as a “bon vivant”, “humanist at heart”, and “empath”.
Registrars at the Downing Centre Local Court originally blocked the release of documents in Sarian’s case.
The Herald successfully challenged the decision, saying it was important and in the public interest to report the accusations.
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