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One of Australia's most wanted fugitives, former business high-flyer Kovelan Bangaru, is expected to be transported under high security from the US to a Sydney jail cell within days.
The US Marshals, the American Government's primary fugitive hunting organisation, confirmed yesterday that it was holding Bangaru in the US before extradition to Australia.
The 40-year-old father of two is accused of fleecing A$27 million ($30.8 million) from 70 investors, when his Sydney-based Streetwise property development company collapsed in 2005 and he fled to California via New Zealand.
According to an extradition document compiled by the Australian Attorney-General's Department and submitted to the US Department of Justice, Bangaru fled Australia on July 26, 2005, just nine days after his company, Sydney-based Colosseum Investment Holdings, went into liquidation.
"Bangaru departed Australia, travelling to New Zealand and then to the US using a South African passport and has not returned," the Australian case against Bangaru stated.
The US Marshals declined to give details of plans to transport Bangaru, but confirmed he was in their custody.
Bangaru was well-known in Australia before his demise, developing multimillion-dollar Sydney harbourside penthouses, properties in many other cities and featuring in news articles in publications such as the Australian Financial Review.
Australian authorities, in documents filed in the US courts, allege Bangaru would tell potential investors that sports stars, such as Australian cricketers Brett Lee and Michael Slater, were investors in his company.
"I have made many successful partnerships with Mr Slater and Mr Lee and I have made many people lots of money," Bangaru is accused of telling one victim who invested A$500,000 with Streetwise.
Bangaru was arrested by US authorities in southern California's Orange County in April after upset Australian investors helped track him down.
He has been held in a jail in Santa Ana, south of Los Angeles, since the arrest and it was originally believed he would fight extradition.
But on December 5 in the US District Court he entered into a "charge bargain agreement" with Australian prosecutors in which he agreed to plead guilty to 11 of the 16 serious fraud charges.
Bangaru also agreed not to contest extradition to Australia.
He still faces more than 10 years in a NSW jail. The final sentence will be decided by a NSW judge.
It is a steep fall from grace for Bangaru. Before the collapse of his property development empire, Bangaru was known for his flashy lifestyle, which included driving a A$932,000 ($1,066,361) Mercedes-Benz Maybach and a A$391,000 ($447,368) Bentley.
Among the 11 charges Bangaru has agreed to plead guilty to include a count of obtaining a financial advantage by false or misleading statements and a count of obtaining a financial advantage by deception. Each charge carries a maximum jail sentence of five years.
In exchange for his guilty pleas, Australian prosecutors agreed to roll three of the original charges into one charge of obtaining a financial advantage by false or misleading statements.
Two charges were also rolled into the one count of obtaining a financial advantage by deception.
- AAP
