Jailed former Billabong boss loses appeal bid
JAILED former Billabong boss and fraudster Matthew Perrin has had a bid to appeal against his conviction in the High Court knocked back.
Perrin was last January sent to prison for eight years for forging a number of signatures, including those of ex-wife Nicole Bricknell and brother Fraser Perrin, in order to swindle $13.5 million from the Commonwealth Bank.
He appealed against both sentence and conviction in the Queensland Supreme Court and in September had six months shaved from his minimum time behind bars. The leave to appeal over convictions of three charges of fraud and six of forgery was dismissed.
The once-successful businessman then sought special leave to appeal over the Queensland Supreme Court sentence in the High Court.
But that was dismissed yesterday.
“An appeal to this court would not enjoy sufficient prospects of success to warrant the grant of special leave,” the court found.
Before his fall from grace, Perrin and Ms Bricknell enjoyed the high life on the Gold Coast with their three children.
They made about $57 million from their investment in Billabong and used some of the profits to build their home in Surfers Paradise.
By 2008 Perrin urgently needed credit from the Commonwealth Bank to fund his failing investments and his deception began.
The $7.4 million house was solely in Ms Bricknell’s name so he forged her signature and that of his brother, Fraser Perrin, as a witness, to use it as security for the $13.5 million loan.
However, the funds weren’t enough and Perrin unveiled his deception at an emergency family meeting in early 2009.
As he lay on the floor, sobbing with his head in his hands he predicted, “I’m going to jail, I’ve done a lot of bad things”.
He will be able to apply for parole in June 2020.