Australian influencer scammed out of $6.2m in ‘dodgy' Bali land deal
An Australian influencer who boasted on social media about making millions on property in Bali claims he has lost $6.2 million in a dodgy land deal on the Indonesian holiday island.
In 'How I made MILLIONS of dollars in Bali,' a video posted on YouTube in June of last year, Julian Petroulas, 32, took viewers on a tour of his business empire.
His assets included a multi-storey mansion with an outdoor cinema; Penny Lane, his popular designed-for-Instagram restaurant, and a 1.1-hectare plot of land he purchased in the surf and entertainment mecca of Canggu, home to some of the most expensive real estate in Bali.
'It's f**king nuts how big this is,' Julian, from Sydney, said in the clip.
'Everything you can see pretty much from the start of this street until the very end of this river is land that I have bought.
'I have had it for a year and am contemplating what to do. I have had many offers.
'I have even had people approach me and say give us the land, we will build it out and you don't have to pay anything.'
Mr Petroulas is a high-school dropout who founded Sydney talent firm Over Agency at the age of 24 and now flies around the world in private jets, drives a fleet of Rolls Royces and Ferraris and owns shares and real estate worth tens of millions of dollars.
But in a follow-up video posted on YouTube on December 31, Petroulas alleged he had been duped by the seller, a European national who cannot be named for legal reasons.
'Soon after this purchase, I started receiving calls and messages from Balinese and the community telling me the man I purchased the land from had not paid them, broke promises, disappeared and was not replying,' he revealed.
'Imagine spending millions on a deal only to discover that other people had been wronged, leaving you to clean up the mess.'
Petroulas' misfortune didn't end there. His visa was then cancelled and he was banned from re-entering Indonesia, ostensibly because he had 'bought' the land on YouTube.
Foreigners are prohibited from purchasing land in Indonesia. They can only lease land or own shares in a foreign-owned company that can purchase land.
'In my [original] video I said 'This is my biggest land purchase ever,' and because I used the word 'purchase,' this has become such a significant crime that the media has published hundreds of articles attempting to destroy my reputation,' he said, showing clips of three other influencers who had also used the word 'bought' to describe their property investments in Bali.
The story made front-page news in Indonesia, with Petroulas painted as a culturally deaf rich boy who thought he could brag about breaking the law on social media and get away with it.
But the Australian, who has over 400,000 followers on Instagram, claimed he had been the victim of a criminal conspiracy co-ordinated by the seller (who he is now suing), corrupt military officers and Indonesia's sensationalist media.
'After making multiple attempts to try to resolve things peacefully, the seller continued to try to complicate and escalate the situation,' he explained.
'Eventually, I reached breaking point and involved my lawyers. [But] 48 hours after filing this lawsuit, dozens of negative articles and videos appeared online.
'These were allegedly orchestrated by the individual I sued.'
Bombshell evidence
Earlier this month, Petroulas contacted news.com.au to say his lawyers had successfully appealed the ban and he was back in Bali.
He also shared evidence he claimed proves his conspiracy theory was true: a copy of a document created by the seller's lawyers that was sent to Indonesia's Ministry of Immigration about 'alleged immigration violations allegedly committed by an individual of the name of Julian Petroulas in the Bali region'.
Petroulas also sent news.com.au a piece of even more damning evidence: nine pages of text messages he claims to have exchanged on WhatsApp with a high-ranking Indonesian military officer, who offered to sell him a winning verdict in his upcoming trial for three-quarters of a million dollars.
'I am someone who knows the details of your problem with [the seller],' the man, who refused to give his name but described himself as 'a high-ranking officer in the Indonesian army [with] many connections within the government, police, the court etc.'
'Your lawyer will not be able to win your lawsuit, and I also know [his] team of lawyers are working behind the scene[s], and they [are] really work[ing] hard to defeat your lawsuit,' he wrote.
'I also know how much money [he] has spent for the court and the team including the funds prepared after the decision.
'If you are willing to pay more than [he] has spent, I can arrange with his [legal] team to leave [the seller] and win the lawsuit for you.
'You definitely have to give more than what [the seller] has given to their team and operations,' the man wrote.
'[He] has already sent initial operational funds of 2.5 billion rupiah (AUD$235,000), and another 2.5 billion rupiah will be disbursed after the verdict. Everything has been co-ordinated at a higher level.'
Petroulas replied: 'OK, so if I want to proceed with you, what should I do? If I don't work with you, I will lose, right?'
The man confirmed that was true and demanded 8 billion rupiah (AUD$754,000) for a favourable verdict.
After consulting with his lawyers and police, Petroulas set a high-stakes trap in which he offered the man 10 million rupiah AUD($942) to get the ball rolling.
The money was sent to a bank account held under the name Leo Agung Priyo Soem, which is almost identical to the name of a Colonel Leo Agung Priyo Soembodo, a high-ranking Indonesian military officer in Bali.
When contacted by news.com.au Soembodo denied he asked Petroulas for money to win his case.
News.com.au is not accusing Mr Soembodo of any wrongdoing.
'The military had been organising all the media stories and a civil lawsuit where [he] has been guaranteed a win,' Petroulas explained.
'The judge has already been paid and unless I pay more – it is like a bidding system – I was guaranteed a loss.
'I just want to expose this guy as he has done a lot of evil stuff to me and it stems from a land deal. This is not about the land or the money, I don't care about that.
'But the amount of stuff this guy has done behind the scenes, the corruption, it's too much to let go of.
'He tried to damage my reputation, which worked, and that has been a very hard thing to recover from. That is low-level scumbag stuff.'
A builder in Bali who worked with the seller alleged that the European national has a history of ripping off investors on the island.
'We did a project with him, but then he had a problem with his partner, the partner left, and suddenly everything stopped,' the builder said on condition of anonymity.
'This guy tried to scam everyone, the old partner and Julian [Petroulas]. He sold the lease [on the 1.1-hectare plot in Canggu] and now it seems someone has applied for a caveat in court to block development of the land.'
A Balinese man, identified as Dearik, who owns part of the 1.1-hectare plot also claims he was lied to by the man.
'I just received the deposit [not the balance and] now already two years [have passed],' he said.
'We met each other many times and always said he will pay, he will pay. But then he sold [the lease to Petroulas] without [my knowledge]. I call Philippe many times but he never answers.'
Petroulas said the man had to be stopped.
'Maybe he can just continue to pay and get away with it. But maybe, if it is reported well, it won't end well for him.'
Scam after scam after scam
The text conversation in which Petroulas was asked to pay for a courtroom is now being investigated by police in Bali.
It has also been forwarded to the office of President Prabowo Subianto, with a request that he take action against the officials allegedly involved in the plot.
However, a lawyer in Jakarta who works closely with the government believes no action will be taken on the presidential level.
'This is a normal case in Indonesia,' the lawyer told news.com.au on condition of anonymity.
'The President will not care because it's a small amount of money, only 10 million was disbursed, and because the victim is a foreigner.
'Politicians here are more focused on helping Indonesian victims to make a name for themselves for the next election.'
Bali is infamous for property scams. In 2023, news.com.au published an investigation into a scam in which investors were duped out of $7.8 million by a US national.
Last year, 128 foreign and local investors were swindled out of $6.2 million by a Belarusian man employed by a property firm in Bali who falsified signatures and company stamps to transfer the money to his Bitcoin account.
A few months before that, Australian and British investors were swindled out of $120,000 in a fake villa deal orchestrated by an Indonesian woman.
The builder who worked with the seller involved said one of the main causes of property scams in Bali are investors who fail to do their due diligence.
'Many investors here trust the wrong people and hand over deposits without contracts,' he said.
'But most of all, I blame the lawyers and notaries [or conveyancers]. They don't do their jobs properly; they want to make a quick buck.
'They have no interest in forging long-term business relationships. That's what I believe happened with Julian.'
When pressed on the issue, Petroulas admitted the notary he hired to do his due diligence is a co-defendant in his civil case against him.
'I'd used this notary before and had reason to trust him, but what happened is that I also used [the seller's] notary,' he admitted.
'They got together behind my back with him and did a deal to screw me.'
When asked if he should have been more thorough in his due diligence given the size of the deal and Bali's reputation for property scams, Petroulas was reluctant to answer.
'I don't know,' he finally said.
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