A Sydney fortune-teller who is accused of financially exploiting her vulnerable clients as part of an alleged $70 million money-laundering scheme has been charged and arrested.
53-year-old Anya Phan and her daughter Thi Ta Phan were arrested outside of their Dover Heights mansion in Sydney’s east on Thursday after the former was investigated for allegedly making fraudulent profits off her fortune-teller clients.
Police allege Phan persuaded clients within the Vietnamese community to take out financial loans based on her ‘predictions’ that a billionaire would arrive in their lives in the near future. She then took a share of her clients’ loans, police alleged.
Phan’s daughter was accused of being involved in the scheme — which reportedly totals nearly $70 million — as police seized tens of thousands of dollars worth in luxury handbags and electronics, as well a $10,000 gold bar and $6600 worth in casino chips.
The NSW Crime Commission also froze an additional $15 million worth of assets.
Police accused Phan of laundering her clients’ money at a Sydney-based casino, where they allege she washed as much as $520,000 in a two-month period alone.
“She is a high roller and very influential amongst her community,” Deputy Superintendent Gordon Arbinja said, per 9News.
Phan’s legal troubles only deepened with the police’s accusation that her fortune-telling scheme is part of her alleged role as one of the heads of the Penthouse Syndicate — one of the largest fraud syndicates in Australia’s history.
17 people have already been arrested in connection to that syndicate with more to come, police said.
“Let me predict the future of this criminal syndicate: we are going after professional facilitators,” Arbinja said.
Phan was refused bail and appeared in court on Thursday. Her daughter, charged with offences including obtaining financial advantage by deception and dealing with the proceeds of crime, was granted conditional bail.
Lead images: 9News
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