George Speight’s Dodgy Pyramid Past

George Speight’s Dodgy Pyramid Past

More revelations about Fijiam Coup Leader George Speight’s involvment into a pyramid selling scheme was revealed to an Australian State Parliament yesterday reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

The New South Wales Minister for Fair Trading, Mr John Watkins told the State Parliament that Mr. Speight conned AUS$165 million (NZ$206.9 million) from 20 NSW investors after enticing them to hand over AUS$700,000 (NZ$878,000) each to an illegal pyramid selling scheme.

The Minister, said the leader of the coup in Fiji acted as the middleman for a Queensland-based syndicate - the 'Wattle Group.' Speight was given two per cent slice of the profits for his work as the scheme’s middleman. He later left Australia avoiding prosecution.

Mr. Watkins told Parliament that the architect of the scheme, Geoffrey Dexter, will appear in a Brisbane court on June 22 in a prosecution brought by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.

Mr Watkins said 406 Sydney people and 145 rural investors, mainly from the North Coast, lost up to AUS$21million (NZ$26.34 million) when the Wattle Group scheme collapsed.

© Scoop Media