Who is Linda Rogan? Stockbroker turned beauty entrepreneur battling Richard White in court

Linda Rogan has accused the billionaire WiseTech founder of offering to invest in her business in exchange for a sexual relationship. She also has an extensive business career behind her.

Businesswoman Linda Rogan and WiseTech billionaire Richard White are ex-lovers embroiled in a legal dispute.

The beauty entrepreneur embroiled in legal proceedings with billionaire Richard White is a former New York stockbroker and commerce graduate who lived in Israel and the US before returning to Australia to invest in tanning salons and other wellness ventures.

Linda Rogan, 52, is at the centre of a sensational court case with her 69-year-old ex-lover Mr White – the founder of ASX-listed giant WiseTech Global – that includes a secret $13.1m Sydney harbourside mansion, $91,000 in luxury furniture, allegations of a New York tryst and an abandoned business deal.

The information about Ms Rogan, Mr White and their alleged relationship is contained in court documents filed with the Federal Court as part of a bankruptcy claim, and obtained by The Weekend Australian.

The matter is ongoing in the courts but before Ms Rogan became embroiled in one of the highest profile Australian court fights of the year, she was considered for the Real Housewives of Sydney reality TV series in late 2022 and pursued a career in the financial services sector in the US after living in Israel.

Ms Rogan, who describes herself as a “beauty addict … ageing disgracefully” on her Instagram account, says she has also been caring for one of her children who was hospitalised in 2022 after suffering an inflammatory response to the Covid vaccine.

She has also worked at and owned tanning studios and a wellness business in Sydney, and currently owns Laser Clinics franchises there and in Cairns and New Zealand.

Bionik Wellness was once owned by Linda Rogan, who claims Richard White wanted to invest in the business.

Mr White, who owns about $15bn in WiseTech shares, is pursuing the bankruptcy claim against Ms Rogan, who has alleged he sought a sexual relationship with her in exchange for investing in her Bionik Wellness business in Sydney’s inner-east.

In documents lodged with the Federal Court this week, Ms Rogan has signalled she will pursue Mr White for damages related to her allegedly having later been forced to sell her shares in Bionik at a loss.

That potential move comes after Mr White in August issued bankruptcy proceedings against Ms Rogan, after she had last year successfully sought garnishee orders for about $91,000 to be taken from Mr White’s Westpac account.

Ms Rogan alleges the sum was for the luxury furniture – including a $10,000 mattress and outdoor love seats – she bought for a $13.1m Vaucluse mansion Mr White secretly purchased in September 2022 for her and her children to live in.

The billionaire, Ms Rogan alleges, instructed her to buy the furniture and engage with interior designers, only to later end their relationship and lock Ms Rogan out of the house when his girlfriend Zena Nasser found out about the relationship.

Born in beachside Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Ms Rogan says in an affidavit released by the Federal Court she moved to Mackay in northern Queensland at the age of two. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Queensland. (She does not reveal the year she graduated).

Ms Rogan would then move to Sydney and worked at what she claims was the city’s first solarium studio, which traded as Sydney Sun Studios.

“I went on to purchase the solarium business in around 1994,” she says.

Two years later she opened a second studio with a business partner, called Cyber Tan in Crows Nest, and then began importing tanning beds from the Netherlands, and installing them in gyms.

Linda Rogan was once a New York stockbroker.

Billionaire WiseTech founder Richard White. Picture: Nic Walker

“In around 1998 I sold my interest in the business and moved to Israel for 6 months followed by New York where I resided for 8 years,” Ms Rogan says.

“In New York I studied to become a licensed stockbroker and attained my series 7 and series 63 licence which authorised me to sell any type of securities with the exception of commodities and futures.”

In 2000, Ms Rogan met husband Gil Sartena, working in his securities firm as a stockbroker until their son Liam was born in 2003. The year before, Ms Rogan says, she studied at and obtained an aesthetician qualification from an “aesthetics” college in Florida.

Some aesthetics professionals are licensed to provide cosmetic skin care treatments and services.

After moving back to Australia in 2005 Ms Rogan eventually had three children and then after meeting Laser Clinics founder Alistair Champion, had by 2015 opened the Laser Clinics Double Bay business.

“I continue to own that franchise with my husband Gil today,” Ms Rogan says. “In around 2017 Gil and I separated, however, we remain living together whilst we raise our children. We have not separated our marital assets.”

Ms Rogan opened Laser Clinics Cairns with Mr Sartena and her sister Angela in 2017 and then another franchise in St Lukes, New Zealand, that the trio and another business partner still own.

Four years later Ms Rogan invested in the Bionik Wellness business with business partner Sam Lehain and her husband, starting with its Surry Hills clinic and then another at Rose Bay.

It is Bionik that Ms Rogan alleges Mr White agreed to invest in, funding the buying out of her business partners, after the pair met via Ms Nasser in July 2022.

That meeting, which followed Ms Nasser allegedly contacting Ms Rogan via Instagram in June, was just after Ms Rogan says her son Liam was admitted to a hospital in Spain when “he had an inflammatory response to the Covid vaccine where his immune system attacked his brain thinking it was a virus”.

She flew to Spain where her son was in hospital for 18 days – she says “he could not speak, walk or see” – and he then stayed in Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital for three weeks. Ms Rogan says her son has improved but his brain has been “permanently damaged”.

Linda Rogan, left, says she met billionaire Richard White via his girlfriend Zena Nasser, right.

Mr White, it is alleged, offered Ms Rogan to be paid $1m in salary annually from the Bionik business, in order to afford to pay him “market rent” to live in the Vaucluse mansion.

That house was bought in September 2022, a month after Mr White had offered to invest in Bionik and after he allegedly flew Ms Rogan to New York where she says their “relationship became sexual” in a Park Lane Hotel suite.

“When I met Richard, I genuinely believed he was interested in investing in my business. I was separated from my husband, caring for three children and my teenage son had only recently suffered a devastating brain injury. After a few weeks I realised Richard was pursuing a sexual relationship,” Ms Rogan claims in the court documents.

A WiseTech spokesperson on behalf of its board, said: “The board is mindful of the impact of the court case on Richard at a personal level and as CEO of the company. We are monitoring the situation. The board is well aware of its role and responsibilities and will continue to take advice on the issues as they relate to the oversight of the company.”