Adrian Portelli: Melbourne rich-lister beats 2020 hooning charge

The flashy billionaire, known for his buying sprees on The Block, has been cleared of a hooning charge after a four-year court battle.

An Aussie rich-list car enthusiast has been found guilty of failing to maintain control of his car around a roundabout more than four years ago.

Adrian Portelli, 36, was hit with driving offences days before Christmas in 2020 after he was spotted by two highway patrol officers sliding in a new housing estate in the outer Melbourne suburb of Diggers Rest.

The Melbourne-based entrepreneur, known for his lottery business and buying sprees on The Block, was charged with driving in a way that caused loss of traction, failing to have proper control of a car and careless driving.

Adrian Portelli drew headlines when he craned his McLaren Senna GTR into a Melbourne penthouse in May 2023. Picture: Supplied/Instagram

Over four days in December last year and this month, Portelli fought the charges at the Sunshine Magistrates’ Court, arguing he did not slide the car, deliberately or otherwise.

He returned to court on Thursday as magistrate Michael McNamara found Portelli guilty of failing to have proper control of a car.

Mr McNamara acquitted Portelli of the more serious charge of driving in a way that caused loss of traction, finding Portelli did lose traction but that it wasn’t intentional.

The careless driving charge, he said, was an alternative and was dismissed.

Police had alleged the high-flying billionaire was spotted on December 22 doing “circle work” in his then-partner’s Grey Mercedes C63 around a roundabout in Diggers Rest.

Portelli has been found guilty of failing to maintain control of his car. Picture: NewsWire/ David Crosling

Leading Senior Constable Glenn Hutton and Leading Senior Constable Christopher Ford told the court they’d watched Portelli slide from a parallel street about 200m away.

“I describe it as deliberate, as the front of the car was always controlled to face the roundabout,” Constable Ford said.

Constable Hutton told the court that he observed the vehicle performing two 180 degree turns in a “doughnut” manoeuvre and “fishtail” out of the intersection.

The case relied on the testimony of the two officers alongside what prosecutors alleged was an “implied admission of guilt” recorded when Portelli was stopped and had the car seized.

Body-worn camera footage from Constable Hutton captured the officer saying “bad day for circle work”, with Portelli grinning and saying “tell me about it”.

But in court Portelli claimed he did not know what Constable Hutton meant by circle work, assuming he was referring to him driving around the roundabout “like an idiot”.

“It was just a nervous and a frazzled response,” he said.

Mr McNamara told the court that he could not be “unequivocally” satisfied this was an admission of guilt and did not rely on it to prove the charge.

He is known for his love of cars. Picture: NewsWire/ David Crosling

Portelli told the court that he was driving to meet an associate and became lost after his phone’s GPS “bugged out”, driving completely around the roundabout to regain his bearings.

“It was a very new area, the GPS bugged out and told me to go right when I wanted to go straight,” he said.

“Embarrassingly, I went back around (the roundabout) and it recalibrated.”

Portelli denied he lost traction or that he deactivated traction control, saying he’d “be a moron” to do so in the wet and rainy conditions.

Portelli denied he drove carelessly. Picture: NewsWire/ David Crosling

Mr McNamara said both officers were honest witnesses, finding Portelli lost traction and slid around the roundabout but remained unconvinced it was deliberate.

“He did lose traction, he failed to properly maintain control of a vehicle,” Mr McNamara said.

Portelli’s barrister, Penny Marcou, chalked it up as a win, noting her client had beaten the “allegation of hooning”.

Prosecutor Alex Turner called for Portelli to receive a conviction, noting an unenviable “litany” of traffic infringements in his past, including speeding and driving without a licence.

But Mr McNamara was unconvinced, noting Portelli had not been hit with any other driving matters since 2020.

He was fined $296 and not given a conviction.