The fortune-teller, the Dover Heights mansion and the alleged $70m fraud

A woman claiming to be a fortune-teller and feng shui master has been arrested and charged with facilitating $70 million worth of fraud for what is alleged to be one of the biggest financial crime syndicates in Australian history.

Police allege 53-year-old Anya Phan, who was on Wednesday morning arrested at her $13 million Dover Heights mansion alongside her 25-year-old daughter, Thi Ta, used her position within the Vietnamese community to recruit mules for the so-called Penthouse Syndicate.

A months-long Herald investigation into the syndicate has uncovered allegations the group defrauded the National Australia Bank of more than $150 million in the past two years, and used the tainted funds to build a property empire across Sydney with the help of the allegedly corrupt bank employees. Detectives allege Phan played a key part in the syndicate’s fraud, which they believe now exceeds $250 million across all major banks and other financiers dating back at least seven years.

Phan, with the help of her daughter, exploited vulnerable clients by convincing them to withdraw loans – from which she took a cut – telling them she envisioned a billionaire in their futures, police said.

Last week, this masthead revealed NAB senior business banking manager Timotius Donny Sungkar, 36, had been arrested and charged with facilitating around $10 million worth of fraudulent business loans for the Penthouse Syndicate. Police allege Sungkar, who remains in custody facing 19 charges, was paid $17,000 to approve loans he knew were applied for with fraudulent documents linked to shell companies purchased by the syndicate to facilitate its business and home loan fraud.

Financial crimes squad detectives investigating the syndicate under Strike Force Myddleton have to date identified more than $150 million worth of allegedly fraudulent NAB mortgage and business loans they allege are connected to syndicate members. Several other NAB employees suspected of receiving bribes to knowingly approve fraudulent loans remain under investigation.

The Penthouse Syndicate is alleged to have purchased dozens of properties across Sydney through mules, like those allegedly recruited by Phan, working under the direction of the group’s alleged ringleader, Shanghai-born 38-year-old Bing “Michael” Li.

Police allege some mules working for the syndicate were paid up to $150,000 for each fraudulent loan they secured for the group, instructed to leave the country, destroy evidence and warned they may be bankrupted when the loans defaulted. Investigators say properties purchased by the syndicate were overvalued, allowing the group to make a profit after a home was purchased, and leaving the bank out of pocket millions of dollars if the homes were repossessed and sold.

Property records show one half of the Dover Heights duplex detectives arrested Phan at was purchased for $13.75 million in June this year by a private company, Phan Holdings Group Pty Limited, with a NAB mortgage. Records held by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) list Phan, who was born in Vietnam and moved to Australia in 2001, as the sole director and secretary of Phan Holdings Group. The company was registered with ASIC on May 16 this year with the other half of the duplex listed as its address.

According to the sale listing, the adjoined home that Phan’s company is registered to features a swimming pool, an indoor cinema and sweeping views of Sydney’s CBD. That home was sold in February this year for $12.9 million. Phan’s home is one of several luxury properties police believe is being lived in by syndicate members.

Phan was on Wednesday night charged with 39 offences, including directing the activities of a criminal group, 19 counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, 13 counts of knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime, and five counts of dealing with using identity information to commit an indictable offence.

Ta was charged with a raft of offences including participating in a criminal group, dealing with the proceeds of crime and dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception in relation to the purchase of a $5.3 million Rose Bay apartment.

During a search of Phan’s home, detectives seized luxury handbags, a 40-gram gold bar worth $10,000, financial documents, mobile phones and more than $6500 worth of Crown Casino chips. Phan had been receiving Disability Support Pension payments for the past two decades, Arbinja said.

In what was a major breakthrough in detectives investigation into the Penthouse Syndicate, Li was arrested in July in the $18 million penthouse of the Crown’s residential tower at Barangaroo, from where police say he directed the syndicate. Syndicate members, including Li, are believed to have used the casino to launder ill-gotten gains.

Detective Superintendent Gordon Arbinja, commander of the financial crimes squad, alleged Phan had laundered more than $520,000 at a Sydney casino over two months. On one day, Phan had laundered $45,000 in three hours at the casino, Arbinja said.

“She’s a high roller, and very influential amongst her community,” Arbinja said.

Arbinja said Phan had taken over Li’s position at the head of the Penthouse Syndicate after his arrest in July. The pair had met at a Christmas party in 2023, when Phan had read Li’s fortune for him.

Li’s arrest and the subsequent investigation into the NAB employees has brought police scrutiny to professionals working on the outskirts of the finance industry, including corrupt solicitors, mortgage brokers and real estate agents who police say form a network of facilitators that helped the syndicate build its multimillion-dollar property portfolio. Li remains in custody after several failed bail applications, charged with dozens of fraud and money laundering offences.

Phan is the latest of 17 Penthouse Syndicate members to be arrested since Strike Force Myddleton was formed last January to investigate a $10 million fraud scheme involving the purchase of non-existent luxury cars in Sydney’s west.

“What began as an investigation into fraudulent car financing has expanded into uncovering one of the most sophisticated financial crime syndicates I have seen in my career at the helm of the financial crimes squad,” Arbinja said.

“Our detectives have worked tirelessly to uncover a network that has not only targeted financial institutions but also manipulated vulnerable individuals for personal gain.”

The NSW Crime Commission has now seized $75 million worth of assets, $15 million of which is linked to Phan, linked to the Penthouse Syndicate, including property, sports cars and luxury goods.

Further arrests are expected as detectives identify the bank employees and finance industry professionals facilitating fraud for the Penthouse Syndicate.

“We’re going to go after some lawyers, we’re going to look at accountants, and we’re looking at property developers,” Arbinja said.

Phan did not apply for bail when she faced court on Thursday and was remanded in custody to appear in Downing Centre Local Court on January 15. Ta was granted conditional police bail on Wednesday to appear in the same court on January 23.

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