The Bondi beauty salon and the alleged $10 million scam

It was a festival of extravagance at Beauty Pavilion’s grand opening party last April.

Moët & Chandon champagne flowed. Gift bags for guests sat awaiting collection on benches. Food platters covered tables alongside cupcakes adorned with the beauty salon’s logo. Gold balloons crowded the ceiling. Outside, giant Chinese dragons danced on the street. Metres away sat parked a Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUV, worth $250,000 and a Ferrari F171 worth more than $750,000.

Delighted family, friends and guests applauded, capturing the milestone with smartphone cameras as Thi Vu and her partner, Ibnu Pratama, proudly cut the red ribbon draped across the doorway of their new business venture.

Within a year, the pair would be at the centre of a police investigation into what is alleged to be one of Sydney’s largest fraud and money laundering syndicates.

The $10 million fraud scheme

Court documents obtained by the Herald detail allegations that Vu, 35, Pratama, 36, and two business partners allegedly funded the salon with the proceeds of crime earned from a $10 million fraud scheme involving the purchase of non-existent luxury cars using fraudulent loan applications.

It was from the inside of McCarroll’s Automotive Group that police allege Pratama and a colleague, who would become a business partner in Beauty Pavilion, masterminded and executed the fraud from November 2022 to August 2023.

For the life of the alleged scheme, both held senior positions at McCarroll’s – Pratama as a business manager and the colleague, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as an accountant and assistant financial controller. Both resigned from the company before Beauty Pavilion opened its doors.

While in their roles at McCarroll’s, the pair allegedly conspired with Bing “Michael” Li, who police allege is the head of a syndicate that has defrauded the big banks and other financiers of $178 million in the past decade.

In July, detectives dramatically arrested Li, 38, in the $18 million penthouse of the Crown’s residential tower in Barangaroo. He was charged with 87 offences, including knowingly directing the activities of a criminal group, and dealing with the proceeds of crime. His alleged fellow syndicate ringleader, Yizhe “Tony” He, was charged with 107 offences. All charges remain before the courts, and the police allegations are yet to be tested.

When detectives searched the apartment Li was renting for more than $37,000 a month, they allegedly found a cache of luxury goods, including Chanel jewellery, designer handbags and a watch collection worth around $1 million. Detectives also seized a number of luxury cars in sweeping raids across Sydney.

When officers cuffed him, Li was wearing a $6000 Louis Vuitton jacket. Last month, he made a failed bid for bail in the Downing Centre Local Court.

To date, the NSW Crime Commission has seized $53 million worth of assets, including properties and luxury cars, linked to Li, He and the syndicate, while the case is ongoing.

On August 25, detectives arrested Vu, 35, at Gladesville police station, where she was charged with three counts of dishonestly obtaining advantage by deception, two counts of knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime with intent to conceal, and eight counts of using a false document to obtain financial advantage related to $3.2 million worth of allegedly fraudulent mortgage and business loans. Vu was granted police bail to appear in Burwood Local Court on October 13.

Vu did not answer questions about the allegations against her when approached at Beauty Pavilion by the Herald on Friday, but denied any wrongdoing. She tried to dodge being photographed, shielding her face after briefly hiding in a nearby store.

On the same day, an arrest warrant was issued for Pratama’s arrest. Police believe Pratama fled to Vietnam, where Vu has family ties, soon after detectives raided the home of one of his business partners last December.

On Monday, detectives made a public appeal to locate Pratama, who they believe has been living between Vietnam and Indonesia.

Detectives allege Pratama introduced his McCarroll’s colleague and Li at a Sydney nightclub in November 2022. It was at this meeting, they allege, that Li and Pratama successfully pitched the fraud to the colleague.

Shortly after the meeting, Pratama, his colleague, Li and another eventual business partner in Beauty Pavilion, who has not been charged and also can’t be named for legal reasons, allegedly created the alias of a fictitious finance broker, Hector Wang, to submit fraudulent loan applications to McCarroll’s on behalf of businesses owned or operated by Li’s syndicate.

All four allegedly each played a role in maintaining Hector Wang’s identity, according to police.

It is alleged Pratama dictated some of Wang’s communication and reviewed loan documents; his colleague carried Wang’s phone and communicated with McCarroll’s using Wang’s email address; and Li, as the alleged mastermind, tasked himself with providing fraudulent identity documents for the loans and laundering the millions made in the scheme. Li was allegedly one of the main beneficiaries of the alleged fraud.

The fourth person’s alleged role was to make and take any required phone calls with McCarroll’s posing as Wang because Pratama, his colleague and Li’s voices would be recognised. By the time the alleged fraud started, Li was a well-known customer at McCarroll’s and had purchased several luxury cars under finance.

McCarroll’s is not accused of any wrongdoing. The employee who police say processed the loan applications resigned when the business became aware of the alleged fraud. She has since been charged with more than 100 offences and remains before the courts.

A $700,000 salon renovation paid in cash

Property records show in April 2023, XOXO Capital Pty Ltd – of which Vu is sole director – purchased the Bondi Junction shopfront on Newland Street for $2.6 million.

In the 12 months after the purchase of the property, Vu, Pratama, his colleague and the second business partner spent $700,000 on the renovation and fitout of the property, according to invoices and receipts police allegedly found on the colleague’s phone during a raid of his Lindfield home last December. Most of the payments were made in cash, according to the receipts.

Court documents allege detectives identified $1.5 million worth of payments made by Pratama, his colleague and the second business partner to purchase and renovate the property, and purchase beauty equipment. It is alleged the funds are the proceeds of crime earned from the McCarroll’s fraud scheme.

At the time of the renovations, Pratama had resigned from his position at McCarroll’s. Police say his colleague and Vu each had declared an annual income of less than $100,000.

“You get the capital from the [alleged] fraud, and you legitimise your activity by opening up a legitimate company,” Detective Superintendent Gordon Arbinja, commander of the financial crimes squad, told the Herald.

“It’s to launder in there, prop it up, legitimise the funds.”

Records held by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) show Vu is the registered representative of a second salon, Bondi Nails, which operates out of a Bondi Road shopfront.

The records show Beauty Pavilion was registered as a business on February 17, 2023 – less than a month before the Newland Street property was purchased. Bondi Nails and Beauty Pavilion are both held by Prolific Path Pty Ltd, a private company of which Vu has been a registered representative since January 1, 2020.

Social media posts showing Pratama, his colleague and Vu working behind the scenes at last year’s Australian Fashion Week are among many regularly featuring the trio on Beauty Pavilion’s Instagram account. Several videos of Pratama featured on the account are believed to have been filmed overseas since he left Australia.

During Beauty Pavilion’s grand opening party, Li mixed with guests as his Ferrari, bearing the custom registration plates “L7” and allegedly purchased through the McCarroll’s scheme, was proudly displayed outside.

Soon after detectives began investigating the scheme, they say it became clear the alleged fraudsters were not flying blind. Whoever was behind the scam had intimate knowledge of the business’ processes.

That knowledge, police allege, came from Pratama’s time working at Toyota Financial Services. From his time there, he knew what a loan application needed to show to be approved.

One witness interviewed by detectives referred to Pratama as the “Ferrari guy” because of his ability to secure loans on luxury sports cars for clients and associates. The witness’ name was used on one of 53 fraudulent loan applications submitted through McCarroll’s during the alleged fraud, court documents allege.

Detectives have widened their initial probe into Pratama, Vu, and their business partners and are investigating whether Beauty Pavilion was being used to launder money from other frauds suspected of being committed by Li’s syndicate.

Arbinja said further arrests were expected as detectives continue to unravel the millions linked to the syndicate.

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