COLOURFUL financier Ian Lazar has been charged over allegations he defrauded an elderly woman of her Nambucca Heads home after first seeing her on an episode of A Current Affair.
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Mr Lazar, 43, was arrested outside his North Sydney home yesterday morning. Detectives from the Fraud and Cybercrime Squad raided the home and his nearby office, with Mr Lazar taken to the local police station and charged with obtain financial advantage by deception.
Police will allege the lender of last resort first watched an episode of A Current Affair in July 2003 which carried a story on an elderly woman in Nambucca who was suffering financial hardship.
Police will allege that following the broadcast, Mr Lazar contacted A Current Affair, claiming to be backed by community-minded investors who wanted to pay off the woman's debts as an act of generosity.
After being put in touch with the woman it is alleged that Mr Lazar and an associate made arrangements to pay the woman's debts.
But when she went to sell her home in 2006 and move to the Southern Highlands to be closer to family, she discovered the mortgage was no longer in her name and had been transferred into the name of a company she did not know.
When she contacted Mr Lazar she was told there had been a mix-up and that it would be resolved. But it was not, and in 2009 she was evicted from her home.
The matter was then reported to police, culminating in the arrest of Mr Lazar on Thursday by detectives attached to Strike Force McMaster. The strike force was established to investigate alleged mortgage and equipment finance fraud whereby a number of dummy companies were set up by a number of different people and fake invoices were used to obtain finance.
It has so far charged 22 people with more than 380 offences for fraud with a combined total of more than $36 million.
The Commander of the Fraud and Cybercrime Squad, Detective Superintendent Arthur Katsogiannis, urged anyone who had fallen victim to fraud to contact police immediately.
"Some people feel too embarrassed or scared to report fraud matters to police, but it's vital that we are made aware of what has happened," he said.
"That way, we can make the necessary inquiries and minimise the chances of other people being targetted and ripped off."
He said investigations by Strike Force McMaster were continuing.
Mr Lazar was refused bail by police and will appear before Sydney's Central Local Court today.
