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A self-proclaimed fortune teller and feng shui master who allegedly orchestrated a highly sophisticated $70m money laundering syndicate across Sydney has been charged.
New South Wales police arrested two women, Anya Phan, 53, and a 25-year-old, at a property in Dover Heights in Sydney’s east on Wednesday morning.
Phan allegedly exploited vulnerable clients within the Vietnamese community by persuading them to take out financial loans based on her prediction that there was a “billionaire” in their future. The woman then took a share of the loans, police alleged on Thursday.
Police allegedly seized financial documents, mobile phones, electronics, luxury handbags, a 40-gram gold bar worth $10,000 and $6,600 in casino chips.
Investigators will allege the older woman ran the fraudulent scheme – estimated to total nearly $70m – with the help of the younger woman.
An additional $15m worth of assets was frozen by the NSW Crime Commission, police said on Thursday.
The women were taken to Surry Hills police station, where Phan was charged with 39 offences, including knowingly directing activities of a criminal group, 19 counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and 13 counts of knowingly dealing with proceeds of crime.
She was refused bail to appear at Downing Centre local court on Thursday.
The 25-year-old was charged with multiple offences, including two counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and recklessly dealing with proceeds of crime valued at more than $5,000. She was granted conditional bail to appear in court in January.
The alleged fraud emerged after police investigations into an automotive financing syndicate under Strike Force Myddleton uncovered the alleged use of stolen personal information to apply for loans through financial companies to purchase luxury “ghost cars” that did not exist.
Those January 2024 investigations revealed the syndicate’s operations extended well beyond car financing fraud to large-scale personal, business and home loan fraud against multiple financial institutions, police alleged.
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“What began as an investigation into fraudulent car financing has expanded into uncovering one of the most [alleged] sophisticated financial crime syndicates I have seen in my career at the helm of the financial crimes squad,” Det Supt Gordon Arbinja said.
Police said 17 people had previously been charged under Myddleton and they remained before the courts. About $60m in assets was restrained in relation to those charges.
The NSW Crime Commission executive director, Darren Bennett, said that recovering “assets is not just about punishment – it’s about restoring confidence and returning value to the people of NSW”.
