Harry Omeros, Peter Lucas plead guilty to $150k boiler-room fraud schemes

A business identity and former Surfers restaurateur - plus accomplice - have been sentenced after swindling investors in multiple scams out of more than $150,000. Read the details.

Harry Omeros at Southport Magistrates Court.

A jailed ex-Surfers Paradise restaurateur is claiming financial stress and a gambling addiction drove him to swindle investors of more than $150,000 in boiler-room schemes

Harry Omeros, 35, and accomplice, Peter Phillip Lucas, pleaded guilty in Southport Magistrates Court on Thursday to two counts of fraud, including one of fraud inducing property worth $30,000 or more.

Omeros pleaded guilty to an additional count of fraud.

Crown prosecutor Caitlin Usher told the court the pair’s first and longest scheme ran from October 2014 to November 2015.

Victims were told they were investing in various online trading sectors when they transferred funds to three companies managed by Omeros and Lucas, she said.

“The complainants would pay a fee and they believed the company would manage the investment, and (they) were all promised a significant return,” Ms Usher said.

Harry Omeros leaving the Southport courthouse on Thursday afternoon with his partner. Picture: Jessica Paul

The court was told these funds were instead transferred into bank accounts held by Omeros, who then spent it on lifestyle expenses.

Omeros and Lucas induced six victims to invest a total of $142,160 in the scheme.

Ms Usher said Omeros alone was responsible for his second operation run from January 31, 2015 to February 25, 2015, during which he induced three victims to invest $6600 each.

Each person believed they would receive a business package including website design and goods for sale, and was promised a refund if they did not get a return on their investment within six months, the court heard.

The total $19,800 was transferred into Omeros’ bank account and later withdrawn and spent.

The court heard Omeros again teamed up with Lucas for a third and final scheme between November, 2015, and January, 2016.

Ms Usher said Lucas contacted their victim about training services offered by his company and convinced him to take out a $20,000 loan he would later repay.

Peter Phillip Lucas. Picture: Jessica Paul

The man never received any training or money to pay back the loan, the court was told.

Omeros, son of Omeros Bros Seafood Restaurant founder Nick Omeros, was first charged in 2016.

Nick Omeros is in no way connected to his son’s case.

The now-45-year-old Lucas was later identified as a person of interest.

Omeros’ defence barrister Saul Holt KC, instructed by SANS Law, said on Thursday his client had since been diagnosed with a panic disorder and gambling addiction that significantly contributed to his offending.

He contended it should detract from the father of two’s actions being seen as “callous” or “calculating”.

“The context by which he said he was going to be able to pay the complainants back was by going to the casino and gambling in order to pay them back – which is, as we now know, utterly wrong-headed and utterly irrational,” Mr Holt said.

The court was told Omeros had initially turned to gambling in an attempt to support his family when his businesses started struggling, but soon “spiralled out of control”.

Lucas’ defence barrister Murugan Thangaraj SC, also instructed by SANS Law, told the court his client was diagnosed with Aspergers and as a result likely struggled to understand the full impact of his offending.

He said Lucas also struggled with mental health and alcohol abuse, and had become “destitute” amassing the restitution owed to his victims.

Judge Jodie Wooldridge said the pair’s minimal and unrelated criminal histories and efforts at rehabilitation in the years since their offending included working closely with psychologists.

Omeros’ substantially greater benefit from the fraud and his additional charge meant he would be the only of the co-accused required to spend actual time in custody, she said.

Omeros was sentenced to four and a half years’ jail, suspended for four years after he serves four months in custody.

Lucas was sentenced to four years’ jail, wholly suspended for four years.

Both men will be subject to probation orders upon release.

They were ordered to pay $108,880 and $81,080 in restitution respectively.

Originally published as Harry Omeros, Peter Lucas plead guilty to $150k boiler-room fraud schemes