Ben Huynh, a Cabramatta pharmacist with an $8m car collection, is facing fraud charges
There’s rich, and then there’s Ben Huynh rich. It seems a world away from slinging scripts at the Cabramatta pharmacy he has run for 26 years. Police at his $20m house set tongues wagging.
There’s rich, and then there’s “Lamborghini makes a special welcome sign for you when you come to their showroom’’ rich.
The proprietor of the Cabramatta East Day and Night Pharmacy Ben Huynh is the second kind of rich.
A $20m house in Dural, more than $8m worth of supercars including a rumoured three Ferraris and three Lamborghinis - including a $1.3m Aventador SVJ - Roger Dubuis watches and soirees with Formula One royalty such as Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz.
It seems a world away from slinging scripts at the Cabramatta pharmacy Mr Huynh has run for the past 26 years.
But it’s a world documented in some detail in social media posts by Mr Huynh’s wife Le Hoa Thuy Thach, who is also the founder of the exclusive Supercars Club Australia - don’t even bother applying if you have a lowly Porsche, and no SUVs allowed thank you very much.
Mr Huynh’s personal life became the subject of much speculation among his neighbours in Dural earlier this month, when trucks arrived to cart away the couple’s much loved supercar collection.
An anonymous poster uploaded photos to social media of a red Ferrari being carted away from the couple’s 2 ha Dural estate, prompting speculation about what happened.
Given police officers were seen vaulting the fence just prior to the removal of the cars, the neighbours correctly surmised that someone was facing criminal charges.
While the Australian Federal Police executed the warrant, it was on behalf of the federal Department for Health, which remains tightlipped about the offences Mr Huynh is alleged to have committed.
Those alleged offences came to light on Tuesday, when Mr Huynh, alone save for his lawyer, appeared in Downing Centre Local Court, charged with fraud.
The court notice says Mr Huynh has been charged with “obtain a financial advantage by deception by submitting false claims for medications under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme that were not prescribed by a medical practitioner, or not supplied to a patient.
“This offence carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.’’
Mr Huynh is yet to enter a plea and the matter has been adjourned until next year.
Mr Huynh’s wife, Ms Thach, is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Mr Huynh has been the proprietor of the Cabramatta East Day and Night since the late 1990s, and says on its website he has been a pharmacist for more than three decades.
“I have been a pharmacist for over 32 years and have a passion for helping people,’’ he says.
“All my staff share my values and know that being trusted, reliable and down to earth will mean success for us all.’’
Mr Huynh’s LinkedIn profile sheds little light on his career, except for indicating he studied at the University of Sydney.
His wife, Ms Thach, says she is a “Business Entrepreneur” on Linkedin, and her work history indicates she started as a pharmacy assistant back in 1987, however graduated from the Australian Graduate School of Management in 2006.
In a Tiktok posted by Fonzie Gomez two years, Ms Thach jokes about being “semi-retired’’.
Gomez is a content creator with more than two million followers, who interviews wealthy people about where their money comes from, and what they’ve spent it on.
In two videos featuring Ms Thach, she says her house is likely worth $10m-$20m, given they bought it for $1.9m in 2001, and says they have more than $8m worth of supercars in their garage.
The most expensive of these is the $1.3m Lamborghini Aventador SVJ, with the personalised number plate “Lebull”.
Ms Thach’s social media accounts, for herself and for the Supercars Australia club, document a lifestyle of extraordinary wealth.
One photograph, taken at this year’s Formula 1 race in Melbourne, shows what appears to be Mr Huynh’s arm sporting a Roger Dubuis watch - starting price circa $150,000.
Mr Huynh features in a video from that day, which shows Sainz being interviewed in the background.
The social media feed of the club also documents an event at which bespoke cocktails were served, with each cocktail taking its inspiration from the personalised number plates of the couple’s cars, including “Le Bull”, “The Cutest” and the “Luv Le Martini”.
Ms Thach is the sole director of a company called Luv Le, while the pair are co-owners of a company called Racing Stripes.
Luv Le is the listed registrant of the Supercars Club Australia website.
In one of the Fonzie Gomez videos, Ms Thach jokes that she’s “basically semi-retired’’ before inviting him inside.
“How much is your property worth today,’’ he asks.
“I’ve been here 20 years now, probably 10, 20 mill’ by now,’’ she says.
When asked by Gomez about the biggest struggle in her life, Ms Thach says it was when her mother made her leave Vietnam, alone, as an 11 year old refugee during the war.
In a social media post from four weeks ago, Mr Huynh and Ms Thach are pictured visiting what appears to be the Lamborghini dealership in Bangkok, with a large welcome sign with their names emblazoned on it behind them.
In her most recent post, the pair are seen stepping out at the The Birdcage at the Melbourne Cup, apparently as guests of casino operator Crown.
A week ago - some time after news of the police raid had started filtering through social media - Ms Thach posted a photo taken at Melbourne’s Ritz Carlton to her social media feed: “As the sunsets, time to unwind from today, reflect on yesterday and recharged for a better tomorrow…because I am determined, unafraid and unbreakable. So good luck to those who has nothing better to do than to try bringing me down, gossips negatively about me…keep trying!’’
The Australian has attempted to contact Mr Huynh through his business but was told he will not be available.
