Dealer of gold fingered for hot hustle

A HIGH-FLYING gold merchant who travelled the world and mixed with celebrities has been jailed after using his Melbourne shopfront to give cash to crooks for stolen jewellery.

Alejandro “Alex” Mendieta-blanco, 34, fronted Victoria’s County Court yesterday and was locked up for four months for what Judge Scott Johns described as greed-driven crimes.

The Colombian-born businessman ( pictured) — who had Aussie music star Delta Goodrem perform at his 30th birthday party — must also complete 200 hours of unpaid community work as part of a two-year community corrections order when released.

The court heard MendietaBlanco encouraged staff at his Gold Buyers Melbourne store in Collins Street to make offthe-books transactions to dodgy customers in 2017.

He knew the gold, diamonds, precious gems and luxury watches being offered to the shop were stolen and would quickly melt them and sell to a refinery so the crimes would go undetected.

On top of his $365,000 salary, the gold dealer would rake in 65 per cent of the scam’s profits, sharing the rest with his entrusted workers.

He flaunted his extravagant lifestyle on social media, posting images of himself driving his Lamborghini and sipping champagne on business class flights.

Mendieta-blanco was involved in dodgy transactions totalling almost $30,000, his older brother Julio $45,000, and another employee, Chey Tenenboim, $144,000.

But Judge Johns said while the father-of-two’s amount was less, he had “set the tone” as the owner of the business.

Mendieta-blanco initially faced 450 charges, but pleaded guilty to one rolled-up count of receiving stolen goods. Julio Mendieta-blanco was placed on a community corrections order for 2½ years, with 250 hours of community work.

Tenenboim was earlier jailed for 12 months for his involvement.