KEY POINTS:
Omar Yusuf painted himself as an Arabian prince who owned islands and aircraft so he could relieve unsuspecting investors of millions.
For a while he was successful. But the fantasy world came crashing down yesterday when the Melbourne father of five was sentenced to at least nine years' jail for defrauding 109 investors.
Five years after he launched a bogus scheme inviting members of the public to sink millions into his trucking company, On the Go Transport, Yusuf stood in the Victorian Supreme Court dock as he was handed a maximum jail term of 12 years.
Yusuf, 40, who migrated to Australia from Cyprus with his family when he was 7, defrauded investors of A$7.3 million ($8.88 million) in 2003 and 2005.
His bank accounts revealed more than A$9 million in deposits intended to buy trucks but only A$1.05 million was actually used for this purpose.
Most of the investors' funds were spent on first-class travel, luxury cars and racehorses.
