Who the Hell is Hamish? Timeline
Key developments in the life of conman Hamish McLaren.
During his life, Hamish McLaren, also known as Hamish Watson, Hamish Phillip and Hamish Maxwell, among other names, betrayed friends and family on his way to stealing more than $7 million. He left a trail of destruction in his wake, ruining his victims financially and emotionally. These are the key developments in his life leading up to his arrest in 2018.
-
March 29, 1970
Hamish Watson is born.
-
1980s
Watson attends Pittwater House private school in Sydney’s northern beaches.
-
Late 1990s
Watson is a Sydney Futures Exchange floor trader, in a relationship with Gabrielle ‘The Pleasure Machine’ Richens.
-
December 2, 1999
Watson buys 14 Florida Road, Palm Beach, for a record $3.9m.
-
July, 2000
Harts Australasia is floated on Australian Stock Exchange. Watson takes control of $5m to invest. A later ASIC investigation found Watson used part of the cash to buy a Ferrari 360 Modena F1 and to pay off leases on a Ferrari 360 Modena, a Ferrari Spider Riviera convertible, a Riviera Cruiser motorboat and a Dodge four-wheel drive.
-
October, 2001
Harts collapses, posts $93m loss. Founder Steve Hart is charged with tax-related fraud and is later convicted.
-
December, 2001
Watson leaves Australia for Canada.
-
July 8, 2003
ASIC bans Watson under the name Hamish Philip McCrae Watson from acting as a representative of a dealer, investment adviser, futures broker or futures adviser, for three years.
See the full ASIC announcement
-
June 29, 2007
The NSW Fraud Squad receives a letter outlining the alleged fraudulent acquisition of funds by Watson over a period of years.
-
October 16, 2010
Watson marries Bec Rosen under the new surname McLaren. Shortly after the wedding, McLaren begins pressing his new wife to talk to her parents about signing over their house at Bluey’s Beach into Rosen’s name. Rosen’s parents refuse.
-
Early 2011
Bec Rosen’s son Jack begins dating Jane*. Hamish McLaren is introduced to Jane’s grandparents, Peter and Lorraine Cross, and he becomes a “helpful friend” of the couple. McLaren convinces them to invest their savings and superannuation with him.
-
September 14, 2011
McLaren meets fashion designer Lisa Ho. He begins to manage her superannuation, and ingratiates himself with the Lisa Ho Group. She invests $850,000 with McLaren.
-
June, 2012
McLaren and Rosen travel to Europe and the US for a belated honeymoon. During this time, McLaren says he has some business in New York, and he takes Rosen to a building where they are required to show identification. Hamish’s identification pass shows the name Hamish McLaughlin. The couple laugh about the ‘error’ and Rosen photographs Hamish with the label stuck to his forehead.
-
November, 2012
Lisa Ho’s multi-million-dollar business empire begins to run into financial difficulties, and the designer suspects something is wrong regarding the investments. She requests her superannuation money back. McLaren gives excuses why it can’t be returned.
-
2013
It is around this time that McLaren, 42, is enaging in a sexual relationship with his stepson’s girlfriend Jane, 17. Rosen is suspicious of her husband’s behaviour, but he denies any wrongdoing. Throughout their relationship he professes his love for Rosen in emails and postcards.
-
September, 2013
Peter and Lorraine Cross introduce their friends Glenn and Vickie Pickard to McLaren. McLaren convinces the Pickards to invest $600,000 with him.
-
Late 2013
Rosen and McLaren’s marriage is crumbling. The pair attend counselling together. See Rosen’s 2015 email exchange with the marriage counsellor.
-
December, 2013
Lisa Ho inititates legal procedings against McLaren, eventually reaching a settlement.
-
January 16, 2016
McLaren and Bec Rosen are divorced.
-
April, 2016
McLaren, using the pseudonym Max Tavita, begins a relationship with Tracy Hall after the pair meet via a dating app. ‘Tavita’ tells Hall that he has only recently returned to Sydney after 16 years of living abroad. He tells her incredible stories, including that his parents died in a plane accident when he was a boy, and that he studied mathematics at MIT and Harvard and worked at NASA.
-
October 11, 2016
McLaren is bankrupted by Lisa Ho after he made $500,000 worth of repayments to her (as per their settlement), but then stopped.
-
December 2016
‘Max Tavita’ and Tracy Hall take a trip to Byron Bay. Tavita begins talking to Hall about financial investment opportunities, and over the coming months she invests $317,000 from her savings and superannuation with him.
-
Early July 2017
The couple travel to Byron Bay again. They walk along the beach and discuss their future, and look at a house they are interested in buying together. The pair fly back to Sydney separately.
-
July 11, 2017
McLaren is arrested by Manly detectives in Bondi. Hall is alerted to the arrest by her friend Catherine Coleman, who has seen pictures of the arrest online. Hall calls Bondi Police who tell her that the name of the man who has been arrested is not Max Tavita. Hall makes some calls and discovers that Max Tavita’s real name is Hamish McLaren.
-
September, 2018
McLaren pleads guilty to defrauding 15 victims of more than $7.66 million over six years. His sentencing is scheduled for February.
-
February 14, 2019
McLaren’s sentencing is adjourned after his barrister Anita Betts requests a psychological report be done on the 48-year-old McLaren.
-
June 13, 2019
McLaren due to be sentenced.
-
*name changed
Do you know more? Email hamishpodcast@theaustralian.com.au
Listen to the podcast at whothehellishamish.com.au, or search your podcast app for Who the Hell is Hamish?