Disgraced developer Jean Nassif implicated in $10m drug deal
Disgraced developer Jean Nassif has been implicated in a plot by two tradies to traffic 10kg of ice into WA in exchange for cash to fund one of his developments, a court has heard.
NSW
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Wanted Sydney property developer Jean Nassif has been implicated in a $10 million dollar drug deal, according to documents tendered in a Western Australian court.
The 55-year-old fugitive has been accused of instructing two Victorian tradies to unknowingly transport 10kg of ice from Sydney to Perth in April 2021.
While the collapse of Nassif’s company - which has left mum and dad owners plus investors hundreds of millions out of pocket - has been well publicised, the explosive documents claimed he was keeping it afloat with drug money.
The court documents said the contents of the bag were to fund the development of units in Castle Hill by Nassif’s embattled Toplace.
One of Nassif’s alleged drug mules, tradesman Samuel Wood, believed he was transporting foreign currency in a silver Ford Falcon and only later discovered it was meth.
In total police believed the haul of ice was worth $10 million.
The next day Wood swapped the bag at a suburban oval for more than $800,000 in cash where undercover police swooped in minutes later.
Wood pleaded guilty to serious drug offences in the Western Australian District Court on Friday.
As did the other mule, Matthew Peagram, who travelled from Sydney in the car filled with drugs with Wood before getting dropped off at Wagga Wagga and flying into Perth.
Peagram became involved in the deal by a third party in Victoria who introduced him to Nassif.
Wood was enlisted through others in Victoria and not Nassif.
When the men arrived in Perth, police watched as they wandered around a local shopping centre before making their way to the oval for the “dead drop” where they would drop the drugs and leave with cash without making contact with anyone.
The pair lugged the bag of drugs to the side of the bush near the oval before leaving with a cardboard box filled with $888,650 in cash.
According to the documents Peagram was told by Nassif that he was picking up the money as part of a deposit for units in Castle Hill owned by the disgraced developer.
The project in Castle Hill was the plush Skyview apartment complex worth $30 million.
Documents state the man who dropped off the money in exchange for the drugs was later found hiding in gardening rubbish in someone’s front yard.
A search of the hotel rooms the men were staying in saw police locate more than $4000 in cash.
Nassif has not been charged with any offences and remains on the run from NSW Police in Lebanon.
Fraud investigators in Sydney have a warrant for his arrest in relation to the alleged fraudulent funding of several of his projects.
His daughter, Ashlyn Nassif, is currently on bail after being charged over a $150 million scam relating to Nassif’s Toplace.
Liquidators at his failed property firm are still attempting to recoup hundreds of millions of dollars allegedly owed to creditors by Nassif.
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Originally published as Disgraced developer Jean Nassif implicated in $10m drug deal
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