Kayla-Leigh Martin, EA to Pineapple Funding’s Andrew Spira, charged for alleged role in fraud

A 22-year-old woman who allegedly made arrangements to illegally leave the country with her multi-millionaire boss, who is a relative of media mogul Ita Buttrose, has faced Darwin court.

Kayla-Leigh Martin and her boss Andrew Spira were arrested in the Hilton Darwin Hotel lobby on May 22.

The executive assistant for a multi-millionaire accused of trying to obtain an illegal passport to flee the country has been granted bail after being charged by police in relation to the alleged criminal fraud.

Sydney woman Kayla-Leigh Martin, 22, faced Darwin Local Court on Monday morning charged with dealing in identification information and obtaining financial advantage by deception.

Kayla-Leigh Martin, executive assistant of Andrew Spira, faced a Darwin court for her role in the alleged fraud. Picture: Supplied.

Police allege Martin travelled with her boss Andrew Spira – the 24-year-old chief of Pineapple Funding and great-nephew of Ita Buttrose – to the Territory by private jet on May 20, breaking Spira’s bail conditions in New South Wales.

The pair stayed at the Darwin Hilton Hotel and were allegedly making arrangements to illegally leave the country.

Police officers executed a search warrant at their hotel room on May 22, seizing an unlicensed firearm, a trafficable quantity of steroids and a large amount of electronic devices.

Martin and Spira were arrested in the Hilton lobby a short time later.

Spira was refused bail when he appeared in court on Wednesday, where prosecutors accused him of trying to obtain an Australian passport by claiming his had been stolen when it had in fact been surrendered to NSW police, and of using fake credit card details to attempt to book flights to the Territory and out of the country.

Martin’s LinkedIn suggests she began her role as Spira’s assistant in April. Picture: Supplied.

Defence lawyer Elias Tabchouri told the court Martin was planning to plead not guilty to the charges, had no prior history of offending and was currently “in poor health”.

She was granted bail on the condition she stay in Darwin and have no contact with Spira.

Martin’s LinkedIn account lists her role as Spira’s assistant beginning in April.

A video of the pair posted to Spira’s Facebook page on May 5 show them walking together in Bondi while Spira complains about his legal issues to the camera.

“The police still can’t produce any evidence of anything I’ve done wrong, so make sense of that for yourselves – eight appearances, $200,000 in legal fees, ‘risk to the community?’,” Spira says.

“Kayla you’ve been with me for 32 days, have I done anything aggressive?” he says, to which Martin replies “literally nothing”.

“Not one thing, I’m very relaxed, I don’t give a f**k, I’ve seen everything,” Spira says.

Andrew Spira is the chief executive of Pineapple Funding and the great-nephew of media mogul Ita Buttrose. Picture: Supplied/Facebook

In another video posted on May 13 captioned ‘Love’, Martin can be seen putting her arm around Spira, laughing as he says “we had another tough week in the office this week”.

“We paid a lot of taxes, a lot of taxes, we’re still here, we’re still fighting – just.

“But boy oh boy, the Hilton’s not very nice if everyone knows what I mean,” he says.

Martin will next appear in court on July 10.

Originally published as Kayla-Leigh Martin, EA to Pineapple Funding’s Andrew Spira, charged for alleged role in fraud