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.
Property records show Phan’s Dover Heights home was purchased in February this year for $12.9 million with a NAB mortgage.Credit: Domain
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, which was purchased with a $4.7 million mortgage.
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.
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.
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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.
Thi Ta, 25, was arrested alongside her mother at their Dover Heights home on Wednesday and charged with a raft of offences.
Further arrests are expected as detectives identify the bank employees and professional facilitators 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 was refused police bail to face court on Thursday, while Ta was granted conditional police bail to appear in Downing Centre Local Court on January 23.
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