Just an hour from Sydney’s CBD and connected by both train and freeway, the historic Hawkesbury River mailboat at Brooklyn is the perfect day trip for locals and visitors
The Riverboat Postman
You'd go to jail for decades, they just pay a fine. At some point it's licensed crime
Wouldn’t it be nice to know precisely how much revenue multinational companies made in Australia and around the world just to make sure they’re not dodging tax?
That’s the system the European Union and Australia are trying to create, but not without substantial backlash from the companies and their advisers, such as PwC, which lobbied the government to delay country-by-country reporting.
In their own words, what volunteer health care workers saw in Gaza. “Nearly every day I was there, I saw a new young child who had been shot in the head or the chest, virtually all of whom went on to die.”
The People Left Behind When Al Capone Went to Prison
Everyone knows the name Al Capone, and we all know he was a Chicago mob boss during Prohibition. Due to his mobsters' loyalty, corrupt deals with city officials, and the goodwill of the common people he helped out, federal agents could never get enough evidence to convict him of bootlegging or murder. They eventually imprisoned him for tax evasion, and that's you know about Al Capone. His story ends with prison, illness, and death.
But what did he leave behind? What happened to Capone's many family members? Or the gang he left behind in Chicago? A video from Weird History runs down the folks Capone left behind, and their stories vary immensely.
The mud map and escape plan that upended a $500 million fraud
An on-the-run businessman left behind smoking-gun evidence of his $500 million fraud before he took off to Greece, a court has found.Bill Papas committed an “audacious fraud” setting up an elaborate scheme to defraud Westpac and other lenders by impersonating major clients and forging the signature of senior executives.It netted Papas and his business associates hundreds of millions of dollars, but a Federal Court finding on Friday paves the way for Westpac to try and claw back some of the money by forcing the sale of numerous properties jointly owned by Papas and his Melbourne-based business partner Vince Tesoriero, and to enforce the civil judgment in Greece against Papas to claim his assets in that country.In handing down her long-awaited judgment on the 2021 civil suit, Justice Elizabeth Cheeseman found Papas had left behind a notebook at the offices of Forum Finance that included a plan for the scheme and notes to himself.Cheeseman found Tesoriero – a race car enthusiast and cafe owner – and Papas’ girlfriend Louise Agostino had knowledge of the fraud against Westpac and two other major banks, Sumitomo and Société Générale.“Papas made notes in a notebook that was seized during the execution of a search warrant at Mr Papas’ Sydney office. In that notebook, he sketched a mud map of the fundamental aspects of the fraudulent scheme, and in which he also included reference to his overseas escape,” the judge said.“Included on the second page of the two critical pages in which the fraudulent scheme is detailed, is a notation: ‘Tell Vince everything you need to tell him’.”Tesoriero has been alleged by Westpac to have received more than $80 million in cash and property as part of the scheme. The civil judgment means they can now claim back some of the money, with a spokesman for the bank saying it welcomed the judgment and would review it.
No criminal charges have been laid against any person in the case, but NSW Police is investigating the matter.Before the scheme was uncovered, Forum Finance was a fast-growing business with interests in various companies including a waste processing group that was, for a short period of time, a jersey sponsor of Liverpool FC.Papas fled to Greece shortly before he was to be confronted about the scheme by Westpac. He has never returned to Australia and did not file a defence in the matter.He told this masthead in March 2022: “I do intend to address the matters raised at an appropriate time but for now, my primary focus is my health.”An investigation by this masthead and 60 Minutesuncovered Papas in Greece, seemingly healthy and enjoying the high life, including attending matches for the soccer team he purchased using Westpac’s money, Xanthi FC.In her judgment, Cheeseman described the scheme as “an audacious fraud”, with Papas impersonating the banks’ major clients – including Coles, Woolworths, Veolia, Scentre and Westpac.“All parties, including the respondents, who were alleged to have the requisite knowledge of the fraud, proceeded on the basis that the fraud and Mr Papas’ involvement in it was established.”“The position taken by the respondents in this regard was realistic. It reflected the strength of the evidence establishing the fraud. The principal perpetrator of the fraud was Mr Bill Papas.”Cheeseman told the court she was also able to establish Tesoriero, Agostino and another Forum executive, Tony Bouchahine, knew of the fraudulent scheme because they were aware Papas had changed banking partners in 2018 when confronted with complaints that $58 million of loans were allegedly fraudulent. The trio had all denied knowledge of the scheme.Westpac was the only bank to pursue claims against Teroriero, Agostino and Bouchaine. The bank has previously alleged that Tesoriero received $28 million in cash as part of the scheme.The bank has also alleged that Tesoriero and Papas made significant property investments with the then Sydney-based Papas using the proceeds of fraud.This masthead previously revealed the pair had built up a $60 million-plus property portfolio that included several country petrol stations. The duo also allegedly used money taken from Westpac to buy Tesoriero’s $9 million-plus stately residence in Melbourne’s Hawthorn and two high-end holiday homes in Wagstaffe, on the NSW central coast.Despite the sale of some of the properties owned by Tesoriero and Papas, little money has flowed to the defrauded banks, with many of the properties heavily encumbered with other mortgages before the scheme was uncovered by a client of Westpac.The Hawthorn home quietly sold in late 2023 as a mortgagee in possession for $9.36 million. The two waterfront properties in NSW were also sold as mortgagee in possession in 2022, netting a combined $25 million.The portfolio of petrol stations located in small Victorian towns has also largely been sold by liquidators to the original seller, who provided vendor financing that was never repaid by Papas or Tesoriero’s entities.
Everyone knows the name Al Capone, and we all know he was a Chicago mob boss during Prohibition. Due to his mobsters' loyalty, corrupt deals with city officials, and the goodwill of the common people he helped out, federal agents could never get enough evidence to convict him of bootlegging or murder. They eventually imprisoned him for tax evasion, and that's you know about Al Capone. His story ends with prison, illness, and death.
But what did he leave behind? What happened to Capone's many family members? Or the gang he left behind in Chicago? A video from Weird History runs down the folks Capone left behind, and their stories vary immensely.
The mud map and escape plan that upended a $500 million fraud
The Difference Between James Bond and Real-Life Spies
"Bond. James Bond. I'm not like other spies." Most of us never get the chance to see our jobs portrayed on the silver screen, because they aren't that interesting to the general public. Those who do complain that Hollywood doesn't get their profession right at all. That applies very much to James Bond, the fictional MI6 agent who is the best known spy of all. Real intelligence agents can easily see that Bond is too flashy, too self-sufficient, and too adventurous to make it in the real world business of espionage. But a realistic portrayal of the profession wouldn't draw millions into a theater.
Alma Katsu is a former US intelligence officer, or what people refer to as a spy, who turned to writing spy novels. She and her former colleagues have a love-hate relationship with James Bond. But as an author, she understands why the fictional version is portrayed like a superhero, while the real work is carried out by heroes who never get recognized. Read what she has to say about Bond at CrimeReads. -via Damn Interesting
Faustin Wirkus was born in the Russian Empire and, as a child, immigrated to the United States. He lived in poverty, but was determined to better himself by enlisting in the US Marine Corps. The Marine Corps Times reports that he was among the troops participating in the US occupation of Haiti from 1915 to 1934.
In 1926, he was on Gonâve Island when he rescued a young woman who was threated with arrest for engaging in voodoo. This woman was Ti Memenne, the Queen of Gonâve.
Gunnery Sergeant Wirkus loved Haiti and eagerly sought reassignment to Gonâve Island. While there, he exposed rampant graft in the tax collection system, helped build the island's first airfield, and conducted the island's first census.
The people of the island loved Wirkus and his works. He also fit neatly into a prophecy that they had: a previous king, also named Faustin, had disappeared in 1848, promising to one day return. The islanders belived that Wirkus must be the reincarnation of this king and so, in 1926, crowned him King Faustin II in a voodoo ceremony.
King Faustin II and Queen Ti Memenne ruled together for three years and, by all accounts, ruled well. Then the Gunnery Sergeant received transfer orders back to the United States, bringing an abrupt halt to his reign.