‘He likes the game’: second woman alleges ‘advice for sex’ compact with billionaire Richard White

Billionaire Richard White has been accused of giving business advice in exchange for sex by a second woman, who says the WiseTech founder is ‘attracted to intellect’ – a condition defined as sapiosexual | Read the messages

Jenna Riches at her Sydney home; Richard White with wife Zena Nasser and his former lover Linda Rogan. Main picture: Jane Dempster

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Billionaire Richard White has been accused of giving business advice in exchange for sex by a second woman, who says the Wise­Tech founder is “attracted to intellect” – a condition defined as sapiosexual.

In an interview with The Australian, Sydney-based Jenna Riches claims the founder of the $44bn ASX-listed giant WiseTech Global engaged in a series of messages, phone calls and video chats with her after she approached him on LinkedIn for business advice.

The 38-year-old alleges that after several months of regular interstate contact with Mr White when she was in the Northern Territory, the professional men­tor­ing turned into a romantic relationship with the Sydney-based billionaire.

The relationship ended after it was discovered by Mr White’s now wife, Zena Nasser.

A spokeswoman for Mr White said he would not respond to a ­series of claims and questions put to him by The Australian.

Ms Riches said her first ­contact with Mr White was in ­December last year when she messaged him via LinkedIn ­hoping for suggestions on how to expand her private psychology practice.

She claims he suggest­ed at least 10 business books to read, such as the Incerto series ­by Nassim Taleb, including The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness, and shared other entrepreneurial advice on dozens of messages and FaceTime discussions.

But Ms Riches said after Mr White discovered she was single, his tone towards her changed and became “sexual” and he began commenting on her appearance.

“He told me he is attracted to intellect,” she said.

“He said his porn is in his mind and he is attracted to intellect.

“He sent me a link around being sapiosexual, which is (about) sexual attraction with intelligent people,” she said.

“He likes the build-up of these things. He likes the game of it, like the master and the student he kept on referring to.

“I was the student, he’s the master,” she added.

Ms Riches alleges that after a few months and a flurry of communication, the pair had consensual sex in February.

Except for some contact in June – when Ms Riches alleges they had sex again – Mr White stopped speaking with her, she said.

“When I came to Sydney … It was very exciting. He had it all planned out … we decided to meet in my hotel room first. He greeted me with a bunch of flowers, and I looked inside and there was a sex toy in them,” she alleges.

She said she was later shocked to receive a message in August from Ms Nasser, who told her to “leave my husband alone and stop contacting him”.

The bombshell revelations appear strikingly similar to Mr White’s alleged secret sexual relationship and business deal gone wrong with beauty entrepreneur Linda Rogan, details of which emerged in the Federal Court in the past two weeks.

Ms Rogan says Mr White agreed to invest in her Bionik Wellness business in Sydney’s inner east, going as far as drawing up strategy documents and discussing expansion plans, as well as funding her to help her buy out her business partners.

Richard White and wife Zena Nasser.

According to court filings obtained by The Australian, Mr White launched a bankruptcy claim against Ms Rogan in August this year in a bid to get back $91,000 from her after she successfully applied for garnishee ­orders for that amount. 

Ms Rogan said she purchased $91,000 worth of luxury furniture to decorate a $13.1m mansion in Sydney’s Vaucluse that Mr White secretly bought for her and her children to live in, in September 2022.

She alleged he bought the mansion after the pair had sex at the Park Lane Hotel in New York, and he agreed to invest in her Bionik Wellness business.

The business deal soured, and Ms Rogan was locked out of the mansion in November 2022 after Ms Nasser discovered their ­ relationship.

During a brief hearing on Tuesday, Mr White’s barrister referred to Ms Nasser as his client’s “wife”, indicating the pair had tied the knot.

The other woman 

After listening to a podcast episode Mr White did with prolific businessman Mark Bouris, and watching a Sky News documentary in which he was featured — part of a series called the Secrets of My Success — Ms Riches said she had contacted Mr White on LinkedIn not expecting him to respond, and was surprised when he did so.

In messages seen by The Australian, Mr White suggested she read 10 books that he claimed helped him to create WiseTech Global, including The Goal and It’s Not Luck by Eli Goldratt.

The billionaire also suggested Bringing out the Best in People by Aubrey Daniels and Dan Ariely’s Predictably Irrational.

Linda Rogan on Tuesday. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

“Take these slowly – they are full of deep knowledge and some need significant practice to be ­fluent in them,” Mr White wrote in a Linkedin message to Ms ­Riches.

“I get a lot of requests but the only thing that I can really offer is some of the reading that has ­allowed me to create, build and grow WiseTech”.

Up until the pair met in person in Sydney in February, Ms Riches said she felt she was involved in something akin to a job interview process.

She said Mr White even suggested she could aim to join WiseTech academy’s “A Black Belt in Thinking Course” in the future.

A management and leadership course, the Black Belt in Thinking is designed to “revolutionise your approach to decision-making and problem-solving” according to its website.

Ms Riches purchased the books herself, and although they weren’t something she would ­typically pick off the shelf, the founder of one of Australia’s most successful technology companies had recommended them.

She said Mr White asked her to send him reflections on the books, and during one she discussed her personal circumstances and mentioned that she had left her husband because of alleged domestic violence.

The Australian has previously interviewed Ms Riches about her now former husband, Northern Territory anti-corruption chief Michael Riches.

Professional to sexual 

When Mr White discovered she was not in a relationship, things between them changed, Ms Riches said.

After a flurry of video calls, phone calls and texts, Ms Riches said he opened one of his FaceTime discussions with “I can see you looking like your usual beautiful self”.

“I thought he (Mr White) was really modest and genuine, down to earth. I thought, I wonder if I could create something with technology and psychology, that is where I see the future going,” she said.

“It was very, very professional. And then it slipped into this sexual (tone).

“I didn’t know what was going on, and I was playing along with it because I thought, well, this could be a good opportunity for me. It was very confusing.”

After a number of months, Ms Riches says she remembered thinking she hadn’t yet got any benefits for the proposed expansion of her private psychology business.

“I said, ‘Why are you talking to me?’ And he said, ‘because I just want to see you be successful’,” she said.

In February this year, around Valentine’s Day, Ms Riches said she met Mr White in person in Sydney when she flew down from the NT looking for an apartment ahead of a permanent move south.

She said after dinner they went back to her hotel, where they had sex.

“I thought I was actually getting into a relationship with this person. We went out for dinner, and then came back to the hotel room and were intimate,” she said.

He called her the next day to invite her to his southwest Sydney home in Bexley, where they had sex again after a tour through the house, Ms Riches said.

Throughout this period, she said, she developed strong feelings for Mr White, but when she told him she was moving to Sydney, he became “totally distant”.

Ms Riches said she felt hurt and after a period of no communication, they connected again and went out for dinner in July.

While they were on speaking terms again, Ms Riches said she was contacted by Mr White’s partner – Ms Nasser – in July, who told her to stop speaking with her husband and that they had just had a newborn.

Ms Riches has exchanged some messages with Ms Nasser and Mr White since revelations emerged about Ms Rogan.

She said while Mr White never did anything bad to her, she still feels “used”.

“I thought, maybe this is going somewhere,” Ms Riches said.

“I found it soothing that he had tried to help me and it was going to help my business.

“He seemed to care about me a lot. I hadn’t had that for a long time.

“I just feel like he just used me.”

Originally published as ‘He likes the game’: second woman alleges ‘advice for sex’ compact with billionaire Richard White