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Like many before them, Jane and Gerard* sat in the lavish boardroom of financial advisor Terence Rienzo Nugara\u2019s Brighton offices overlooking Bay Street, sipping on supplied drinks and listening to his slick real estate pitch.<\/p>\n
It was about a year before the 50-year-old would bundle his stolen money together and fly overseas, leaving a trail of broken victims more than $10 million poorer. Meanwhile, Nugara spent the proceeds that he promised would be invested in the safe property schemes he spruiked, splashing out on the high life: yachts, high-performance cars and $400 bottles of Dom Perignon.<\/p>\n
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Terence Rienzo Nugara conned his victims of more than $10 million.<\/span><\/p>\n It was in June 2018 that Gerard, sitting in the long boardroom, got the sense that something was wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was sounding too good to be true,\u201d he says of the meeting five years later.<\/p>\n Jane and Gerard have since watched in horror as 38 victims of his deception between October 2014 and January 2019 unloaded their contempt and hatred for Nugara, a former financial advisor, who was paid a total of $10,072,061.93.<\/p>\n To clients, he was known affectionately as \u201cRio\u201d.<\/p>\n In court, dozens of victims detailed the litany of ways that Nugara destroyed their lives. The pair is now thankful that they trusted their gut and walked away from the fraudulent scheme when they had the chance.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Nugara was sentenced to nine years and 11 months in prison, after pleading guilty last week to 37 charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception and two of theft. He will be eligible for parole after 6\u00bd years.<\/p>\n County Court judge Trevor Wraight told Nugara that he persisted in collecting large sums of money from victims \u2013 often their life savings \u2013 despite knowing that he could not repay them.<\/p>\n \u201cYour offending can only be described as reprehensible, callous and selfish conduct,\u201d he said, \u201cin my view, your moral culpability is very high\u201d.<\/p>\n Nugara was sentenced in the County Court on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n Wraight said that there was limited evidence of Nugara\u2019s remorse and insight.<\/p>\n With his millions, Nugara took off overseas in 2019, living for three years between Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka and Singapore. The money he stole funded an extravagant lifestyle.<\/p>\n In Mexico, Nugara sought new investors in an online gambling platform, but was kidnapped in an extortion attempt. He sought help from the Australian embassy, where he learned about the warrant for his arrest.<\/p>\n Nugara encouraged investors to convert their superannuation to self-managed super funds, giving them flexibility to invest in his property deals.<\/p>\n But for Gerrard, the risk always seemed too extreme.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything was going to be on the line \u2013 taking out more money, accessing equity of [our] house. We\u2019re too risk-averse for this, it\u2019s way out of our comfort zone.\u201d<\/p>\n In July 2018, he sent an email politely declining Nugara\u2019s investment opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat a shame you won\u2019t be able to double your funds for retirement,\u201d Nugara teased, just 14 minutes later, according to emails reviewed by The Age<\/em>.<\/p>\n Nugara enjoyed fast cars.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI wish I could show you the future now … such a shame for you mate but in saying that I am always here for you and Jane if you have any needs in the future!\u201d<\/p>\n Even years later, it bothers Gerrard.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was slick,\u201d Gerard recalls. He said Nugara would give people the impression that \u201cI\u2019m so clever, I\u2019ve made so much myself, made so much for other people\u201d.<\/p>\n On Thursday, rather than face some of his victims who had attended the court to see him sentenced, he chose to tune in from prison.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s a son of a bitch, a f–king prick,\u201d a financial advisor and property developer who worked with Nugara tells The Age<\/em>. He wants his name withheld, worried that an association with Nugara could impact his business.<\/p>\n He met Nugara in 2009 through people who would later become Nugara\u2019s victims, and is still staggered by his actions. He said one of the victims was a godmother to one of Nugara\u2019s young children.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was gut-wrenching,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen arseholes like this come along, and do this sort of shit, it\u2019s very difficult. It makes it difficult for the honest brokers.\u201d<\/p>\n The developer said he cut ties with Nugara when the conman started to make claims that he couldn\u2019t possibly follow through on.<\/p>\n \u201cHe started to go loopy. He started making claims like promising that it would be done in two years and … [with] ridiculous returns,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Nugara participated in some of Australia\u2019s premier motorsport categories, including the GT Trophy Series and the Australian Endurance Championships.<\/span><\/p>\n It was those ridiculous returns claimed by Nugara, who sometimes promised almost 100 per cent, that lured so many victims into his web of deceit.<\/p>\n Tracey Redman-Slater is an accountant mentioned in court documents. She set up several of the victims with Nugara, attended pitches with potential investors, and told this masthead that she felt sympathy for the victims.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry for the victims,\u201d she told this masthead, \u201cI did not cause their losses\u201d.<\/p>\n The Age<\/em> is not suggesting Redman-Slater knew of Nugara\u2019s fraudulent scheme or benefited from it.<\/p>\n Nugara had a good professional pedigree. He worked for Westpac, NAB and Commonwealth Bank before starting his own business, Skynet Financial Services, which shares a name with the fictional artificial intelligence system from the Terminator<\/em> film franchise.<\/p>\n He is currently incarcerated at the Ravenhall Correctional Centre. But for his guilty plea, Nugara would have been sentenced to 13 years.<\/p>\n The case bears similarity to Sydney financial advisor Melissa Caddick, who also targeted people close to her.<\/p>\n Reflecting after the scandal, and how close the couple came to suffering the same fate as dozens of others, Gerard feels the scheme seemed more like gambling than investing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s unnecessary to take that sort of risk, that crazy gambling risk. That\u2019s what it felt like, it felt like gambling,\u201d Gerard said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re better off just working hard, and not looking for that great win.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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