Ex-fraud squad cop Michael Featherstone accused of controlling alleged $190m money-laundering scheme
A former Queensland detective controlled a $190m money-laundering network that involved cash being left at ‘dead drops’ and smuggled as air cargo via Virgin, police allege.
A former Queensland detective controlled a $190m money-laundering network that involved cash being left at “dead drops” and smuggled as air cargo via Virgin, police allege.
Encrypted messages recovered by police allegedly show Michael Featherstone, a former fraud squad policeman turned private investigator, pulled the strings of the money-laundering operation that was at the centre of a series of arrests in June.
Criminal proceeds were washed through a security company, car businesses and an ATM firm before being transferred to a beneficiary, Aleksandar Alincic, who came to the attention of authorities during an investigation into drug importations, police say.
Seeking orders in Queensland’s District Court to seize properties, bank accounts and luxury motor vehicles connected to some of the alleged participants, the Australian Federal Police outlined the case against the money-laundering network.
Accused key figures, and how they allegedly used a variety of complex methods to try to evade detection, were detailed for the first time in the court filings.
According to an AFP affidavit and a separate draft police statement of facts filed in the court, Featherstone used encrypted messaging app WhatsApp to arrange to meet Daniel Roydon Ware from Gold Coast security firm Direct Protection in January 2023.
“I suspect the purpose of the meeting was to discuss Ware’s involvement in the laundering of funds,” agent Daniel Hoare states.
Ware then attended National Australia Bank branches on the Gold Coast to help deposit $2.5m in cash into Direct Protection’s account with the bank.
He allegedly reported back to Featherstone on WhatsApp that the money had been banked and was being transferred to another business’s account, minus his fees.
Ware: “Morning Michael Final count was $50 short and there was $200 in counterfeit notes. So total banked was $2,499,750 … If OK, I’ll keep our costs from the final amount transferred.”
Featherstone: “Thanks mate. All good re transfer time. All good re your costs. Can you please advise amount so I can reconcile this end. Also do you still have the 200 counterfeit and if so can I get it back down the track.”
Police charged Ware, 48, and his wife, Nicole Lauren Fredericks Ware, 35, in June with money laundering.
Alincic, 32, from Heathwood in southwest Brisbane, was charged with money laundering and failing to provide the password to a mobile phone.
Peter Nolan, 58, from West End, was also charged, accused of funnelling laundered money through his purported classic and racing car business Aintree & Co to a separate business account controlled by Alincic.
Featherstone, 62, was not charged at the time. The Australian in June revealed that Alincic’s bail conditions barred him from contacting Featherstone. Until now, it had not been revealed why the order was in place.
“Featherstone was the controller of the MLO (money laundering organisation) due to him possessing the acumen as a risk consultant given his well-established associations to persons who could facilitate the dealings of proceeds of crime,” the draft police statement of facts adds.
AFP agent Hoare states in his separate affidavit that the Australian Border Force performed searches and downloads of telecommunications devices belonging to Featherstone and others, and passed the results to the AFP in February.
Featherstone is awaiting trial in Queensland on unrelated fraud and money-laundering charges after being arrested in 2016 over an alleged “boiler room” scam. He has previously indicated he would plead not guilty to those charges.
Alincic “came to the notice of the AFP during the investigation into multiple importations of commercial quantities of border-controlled drugs into Australia and the subsequent laundering of proceeds of crime”, the draft police facts state.
The AFP later commenced a money-laundering investigation codenamed Operation Avarus-Arcadia.
Security firm Direct Protection was involved the movement of bulk amounts of cash, a service that was not subject to Austrac reporting obligations as a result of amendments to anti-money-laundering laws in 2018.
“This enabled Direct Protection to conduct numerous extensive cash deposits into their account concealing from regulators the true nature of the funds they dealt with,” the police facts state.
Ware established Direct Protection in 2017, was managing director and managed day-to-day business operations.
The business was based at Molendinar and employed 100 people in crowd control, as security guards and for personal protection and the cash-in-transit operations. It had a secure vault that was used to count and store cash, an office to house employees, and a fortified roller-door entrance with tightly controlled access.
Criminal proceeds originating from cash drops were allegedly received and counted at the business and then converted into cryptocurrency.
Illicit dealings were “not made known to other Direct Protection employees”, the police facts state.
Nolan was a director, shareholder and secretary of Aintree & Co, a business established in March 2021 that purported to be involved in car sales but never held a motor vehicle dealer license. It was recorded as being based at the same Southport address as a business associated with Featherstone.
There was no business signage, advertising or marketing material establishing Aintree at the premises and its website used stock images, police allege.
Illicit money was sometimes collected in southeast Queensland. At other times, “mules” travelled interstate to pick up cash from dead drops before sending it to Direct Protection via air cargo using Ware’s business account with Virgin, the police facts allege.
In June 2024, police in Western Australia arrested a Direct Protection security guard, Emad Jlew, for collecting $700,500 cash from a dead drop in Perth.
“I’ve just phoned the lawyer involved,” Featherstone allegedly said in a voice message to Ware. “He should walk out of it pretty easy, basically some uniform police seen two blokes handing a bag over … I don’t really think there is too much in it by the look of it in terms of any bigger picture or bigger operation.”
The money-laundering network allegedly used InvictusPlus Pty Ltd ATMs “in efforts to legitimise and offset the transfers of illicit cash deposits made by Direct Protection”, the draft police facts add.
AFP Detective Superintendent Adrian Telfer in June said the money-laundering operation allegedly turned over $190m between October 2022 and May 2024.
NAB and Westpac terminated Direct Protection’s banking facilities following risk assessments.
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