Daughter of fugitive developer falsified loan documents under father's pressure, Sydney court hears
Quick Look
Ashlyn Nassif, 32, pleaded guilty to falsifying documents for a $150m Westpac loan used to build three Sydney apartment towers in 2021, telling a Sydney court she acted under pressure from her fugitive father Jean Nassif, who fled to Lebanon in 2022 and is under investigation for alleged corrupt payments to NSW Liberal powerbrokers.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
Jean Nassif was the head of failed construction firm Toplace and fled Australia for rural Lebanon in 2022 after a two-year fraud investigation. A warrant has been issued for his arrest and 57 companies linked with Toplace are in administration. The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption is investigating allegations that NSW Liberal powerbrokers took a $2m payment from Jean Nassif in breach of the NSW Electoral Funding Act.
The daughter of a fugitive property developer succumbed to pressure from her father when she falsified documents for a $150m construction loan, a Sydney court has heard.
Ashlyn Nassif, the daughter of Jean Nassif, pleaded guilty in June to providing false or misleading information to obtain the loan from Westpac, which was used to construct three apartment towers in Sydney’s north-west in 2021.
The 32-year-old has accepted her role but her lawyer, Murugan Thangaraj SC, on Monday argued her “notorious” father also played a part.
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) is currently investigating allegations that NSW Liberal powerbrokers took a $2m payment from Jean Nassif in breach of the NSW Electoral Funding Act.
Nassif, now 58, had offered to appear on Friday via video link but produced a medical certificate to excuse himself. He fled Australia for rural Lebanon in 2022 and has previously denied wrongdoing.
Thangaraj told Burwood local court on Monday that his ex-wife had described experiencing a decade of coercive control and outlined how this was consistent with the way he treated his daughter.
Jean Nassif would tell his daughter to lose weight, get weight-reducing surgery or cosmetic surgery so “she could look better and he could show her off”, the lawyer told the court.
She was “hardly the glamorous heiress as portrayed,” Thangaraj said.
Her father – who was the head of failed construction firm Toplace – is being pursued by NSW police after a two-year fraud investigation.
A warrant has been issued for his arrest and 57 companies linked with Toplace are in administration.
“How any person could leave their child to face charges like this for his company’s benefit – to make her fend for herself, to sell per property for her legal fees … what does that say about who he is,” Thangaraj told the court.
Before his departure, Jean Nassif told his daughter he was “desperate” for the Westpac loan, her lawyer said in court.
“She agreed to do what she should not have and she’s explained how she succumbed to the pressure of her father.
“If she wasn’t working for him or if he wasn’t her father, she would never have committed this offence.”
The prosecution has argued Ashlyn Nassif knew the purchasers and contractors at Toplace did not meet the definition of an “at arm’s length” transaction. The defence has disputed this.
She was due to be sentenced on Monday afternoon.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Jean Nassif will face extradition proceedings from Lebanon to Australia
Possible · Within months
Ashlyn Nassif will receive a sentence that considers her coercive control background
Likely · Within days
Open Questions
- Will Jean Nassif be extradited from Lebanon to face charges in Australia?
- What sentence will Ashlyn Nassif receive for her guilty plea?
- Will the NSW Liberal powerbrokers implicated in the alleged $2m payment be charged?
