Just having another look at the withdrawals of the monies in regard to some of the victims
With MB the money started getting withdrawn about 2 weeks after the passenger card arrives back - $5K daily over 3+ weeks both at Byron and Burleigh then a lump sum from her Ashmore account nearly 3 months later! - If using her card within the bank she would have also needed her Proof of name change docos given her bank account was still under MB name, because for a bank ID her license and passport was under FNMR name - as we know -
IF she was walking into NSW banks where she was not known, WHY go everyday for weeks to take out $5K a day when she could have taken out the lot in one go????
Then it has been noted recently that with GGB, she gave AH her pin number and HE went into the bank - NOT ATM - and withdrew just under $30k over five weeks...... with each withdrawal about $5K
We also heard from him and various others that HE held onto ALL their documents "for safe keeping".
He was also at MB house 'helping her pack' - no doubt helping himself to important documents of MB's IMO
It is not a stretch to imagine HIM and or someone else close to him, doing these transactions.
IF MB was coming home for 8 days to get money for 'a school' , WHY wait 2 weeks to get the money and.....where was she staying during all these weeks.....
I know this has been discussed numerous times but the new information on GGB puts a whole new slant on it.
I hope they are investigating EVERYONE connected to him.
On a long drive, listening to Laura Richards I got to thinking of 1990s, Sussex, Banking and International moves. What was Ric telling her to do? (I did live in East Sussex at that time, had moved to UK from abroad and moved money to buy a home, family friend parents owned an independent school and I worked in field of international relocation of executives). Not an expert, but aware of some things.
A lot of thoughts dumped below …
Could he have found an actual school for sale? Or just window shopping schools? I’m not sure where you would find schools “listed” in the UK, at the time. I love to look at property/retail/commercial listings and auctions etc. over decades have never seen a school listed. I would think listing or contacts would be in Independent Schools Education Journals or membership groups. Parents don’t like to know an active school is “for sale”, it would cause enrollment to drop, teachers maybe to leave. Very sensitive to do a school sale, buyer buys knowing how many fee payers to keep the school running and pay salaries. I’m thinking he had a fake “contact”, maybe foreign owner only he could speak with. No way there was a real school for sale that he was in contact with. Unless it was an empty building, not a going concern. A huge financial risk to start a primary school from scratch.
A empty space for a small nursery school (ages 2.5 to 4) maybe do-able.
I have mentioned previously, that MB would have needed a lot of legal advice for immigration, working in uk, buying a school, employing staff. She was smart, she would know this. It one thing to be the “investor-owner”, another to be Headmaster which is the public face of the school. A nursery school easier & possible & private nursery fees partly subsidized so more affordable tuition.
The “marriage” would have helped her with right to work in UK, but would still need to make applications, get national insurance number and other documents to be “legal”. Set up a company. Her head would he spinning, but RB likely said he would take care of everything - give me all of your documents.
There are also the declarations/restrictions on bringing cash into the UK.
1. Those landing cards you used to need to complete. Was it £10k in the 1990s? Declare & meet customs for anything over that amount.
2. At the time, if you were relocating to UK, I believe you could bring in all of your cash, once to “settle” without it being a “tax event”. But she would need to have “legal” right to settle in UK before bringing funds.
Thinking RB bamboozled her with info like this and told her he could sort it out with his “coin” business expertise. Like bring all the cash to avoid a tax event, or it will take too long, get the cash NOW and we finalize purchase before term starts/ends?
3. Also, transferring funds to UK, at the time, through “normal” Banking transfers could take a couple of weeks for normal retail customers. But RB would want the cash. MB had a UK account should could have wired her money into easily though possibly slow. Also could have wired direct to school seller. RB could do not his con at a UK bank, didn’t know the system and IMO he didn’t have an accomplice to help. He needed the money in cash for his con.
If it were MB at the Australia bank, he definitely had to give her a reason to make her take the cash, I think it’s to avoid tax and buy school quick, like telling her going to Swiss Bank Account. Buy the school “offshore” or in “offshore trust” protect the money / investment for her kids? He used similar language with others. If he had an accomplice, the daily withdrawals were below an amount requiring extra approval that might uncover the fraud.
How did he convince her to keep it all a secret and do a big reveal - maybe to show all those little people at the old school her fabulous new life?
It would been a challenge to keep her happy, at home in Oz, in secret - in a local hotel? A remote property? Did she get too “sick” to go out? It was easier in previous cons to ditch the women in another country (UK, Bali), but MB was at HOME.
Not convinced it was Marion at the bank, taking smaller amounts that required less bank scrutiny? IMO- that RB had a middle aged female brunette accomplice. Picturing a scarf over her hair, some eyeglasses from Grafton …. MB deceased as soon as he figured out how to drain her bank.
) I’ll look it up.
