Fraudster behind bars
Issakidis facing seven years in jail for tax con
DISGRACED Gold Coast businessman Michael Issakidis was still thinking about his wife when he was sentenced to spend at least the next seven years in jail for tax fraud.
The 73-year-old is seeking to be transferred to a Queensland prison to be close to his wife, the glamorous Donreka, who he was rarely seen without on the Gold Coast social scene.
On Thursday, after a protracted, more than five-year legal battle, Issakidis was sentenced to 10 years and three months jail by a Sydney court.
At trial last year he was found guilty of conspiring to cause loss to the Commonwealth and of dealing with property believed to be the proceeds of a crime.
The charge included defrauding the Australian Taxation Office out of about $135 million.
Issakidis, alongside his NueMedex business partner Anthony Dickson, used tax havens and complex international trust structures to hide the money.
The sentence was a final end to an ongoing saga.
Last October, on the day he was due to be sentenced, Issakidis and Donreka were found unconscious in the garage of their Sovereign Islands mansion, surrounded by luxury cars, including Issadkidis’ beloved Rolls Royce.
Issakidis said he and Donreka are no longer suicidal: “We are now in the position where we have to stay alive for each other which is why it is so important we can visit each other.”
He will now apply to be transferred from NSW to Queensland so Donreka can visit him in jail.
The pair, who met when Donreka was 17, were a regular feature on the up-market social scene, attending lavish parties for high-end brands such as Cartier, Rolls Royce and MacLaren.
“They didn’t have a lot of friends,” one source said.
“They kept very much to themselves.” Cars were Issakidis’ aside from Donreka and he proudly showed off his “battalion” of luxury vehicles housed in his elevator-accessible garage.
Donreka was the glamorous one of the pair and always looked put together.
“She admitted to being in her mid-60s but she looked very good,” a friend said.
Since moving to the Gold Coast in the 1980s, the pair were known for putting up a front about their wealth. A source told the Bulletin the back of their house was bare.
In another incident, Donreka attended an interview for 60 Minutes dripping with jewels and accompanied by a bodyguard. The source said everyone who saw the jewels were sure they were fake.
When Issakidis was charged more than five years ago, the pair continued to hit the social circuit.
“He was always very confident he hadn’t done anything wrong,” one source said.
It was not until about 18 months ago that the pair began to withdraw from their social commitments.
After their suicide attempt, Donreka sent text messages letting people know they were OK but the couple were not seen at any further events.
When Issakidis was arrested in April 2012, the Australian Federal Police seized about $40 million in assets, including two yachts and several cars including four RollsRoyces, a Lamborghini Spyder, an Aston Martin, a BMW and a Mercedes.
He was placed on a $1.5 million surety and in the following years he would be subjected to a two trials, racking up $1 million in legal fees.
Three years ago he told the court he was unable to pay for his lawyer and applied for Legal Aid. He will now have to wait for a decision to find out if he will be transferred closer to his wife.
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