Accused fraudster Chris Marco raised $250 million from investors, Perth court told
Chris Marco, 67, is on trial in the WA Supreme Court along with Linda Marissen, accused of defrauding would-be investors out of tens of millions between 2010 and 2018.
His lawyer denies Mr Marco engaged in fraud and said everything he promised to investors "was delivered on".
But prosecutor Steven Whybrow has labelled Mr Marco "an illusionist" and Ms Marissen his "assistant".
On the first day of the trial, the court was told Mr Marco presented himself as a private investor with access to "exclusive" types of investment which would produce higher rates of return.
Mr Whybrow told the jury Mr Marco was very convincing, holding himself out as a "leprechaun" who would take them "to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow".
Mr Whybrow said Mr Marco gathered more than $250 million from 151 individuals, seven of whom would testify about the lies he told them.
The prosecutor told the jury that money was paid into an account and used to pay promised returns to other investors.
From the $253 million, Mr Marco paid out $198.5 million to people who had provided funds.
This was to give them the impression they were getting returns on investments, and they were then urged to "reinvest", Mr Whybrow said.
But "there were no investments."
Ms Marissen helped Mr Marco and "was aware the money was being provided on a certain basis," Mr Whybrow said.
Mr Marco's lawyer Luka Margaretic told the court his client "genuinely believed" he was operating a legitimate investment business and he had a "perfect payment record."
"Anyone who wanted their money back got it," Mr Margaretic said, and they also got "handsome" interest payments.
"Every cent was accounted for," he told the court, but because the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) shut his investment scheme down in 2018, it wouldn't be known if investments were going to "bear fruit".
Ms Marissen's lawyer Simon Freitag said his client had worked under Mr Marco's direction.
"He's the brains of the operation, she does the typing," he told the court.
The total losses allegedly suffered by the complainants has not been specified in court.
Justice Natalie Whitby had told the jury "there will, in essence, be multiple trials running at the same time".
The trial is expected to run for several weeks.
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