Sara Daizli Sara Daizli was a banker for the St. George
bank in Sydney, Australia.
Unbeknownst to her co-workers, she had a few well-kept secrets.
She was the wife of known gangster David Sukkar, and through him, had close ties to Sydney's
seedy underbelly.
Her other secret isn't as surprising once you know the first one.
David wasn't the only one with criminal ambitions.
Lavish Life Sara loved the lavish side of life.
It wasn't uncommon to see her in designer clothing and accessories even when she dressed
down.
Everything she surrounded herself with would make you think she was the CEO of some Fortune
500 company.
However, her love of money came from a simpler and more sinister place.
She is the wife of an infamous criminal in the Australian underground.
Many assume the money her husband's lifestyle brought in fueled her lust for a designer
life.
Regardless, Sara wore top-of-the-line gear all the time and was even arrested in a pair
of golden designer slides.
With her luxurious lifestyle on display for all to see, it might be surprising to learn
that she worked at a St. George Bank in Sydney, Australia.
Just like everything else in her life, Sara figured out how to use it to her advantage.
Refusing to be outdone by her husband and live in his shadow, she started her own criminal
syndicate.
She even got a few people on the inside to go along with her.
They began a routine of fraudulent financial crimes that would net them half a million
dollars over four years.
The MasterMind With all the money she could steal, it would
seem like Sara's group was able to pull off some large-scale crimes.
They used their knowledge of finances and their access at the bank to run scams on unsuspecting
customers.
The crimes themselves targeted real customers that frequented the bank and their identities.
They would use customers' personal information to open up fraudulent accounts without their
consent or knowledge.
Then, using these same accounts, the "Sophisticated Fraud Syndicate" that Sara had created began
applying for loans.
This was the first step in a plan that would cause years of financial suffering to many
innocent people.
When someone applies for a loan, they know they have to pay it back or risk severe damages
to their credit score.
Sara's scam was no exception.
The money Sara withdrew using these people's identities counted against them.
Even if the banks wiped the slates because of the crime, it still wouldn't fix the pain
and suffering caused by Sara and her cronies.
Once the fake accounts were approved for the loans, Sara began shuffling the money around.
Sara and her partners in crime did this by using their own access as bank employees.
They moved over $300,000 into just one account while the rest of the ill-gotten gains were
spread around amongst a few others.
The whole crux of her operation was stealing identities.
During one arrest, eight identifications for different people were found on her person.
There was even evidence that she swiped a sticky note with someone's address and date
of birth written on it.
By the end of the whole scheme, they stole around $590,000, over half of that coming
from one elderly retiree.
They took every bit of savings the victim had, and from what the prosecution alleged,
they used it to purchase designer goods.
Taking someone's life savings to fuel your own vanity is pure evil.
Sometimes it's said that the crime isn't that bad when there is no violence involved.
Still, the emotional hit from losing everything you have can be just as damaging.
Connections It takes a certain mentality to come up with
a sophisticated fraud network.
Most people never consider crime as an option, even when down on their luck.
However, Sara's whole environment was organized crime, so it makes sense why she would go
in that direction.
Her husband is a well-known player in organized crime and could have easily taught her how
to exploit openings.
The act itself seemed like a mix of their expertise.
Sara knows finances due to her job at the bank, and David knows the criminal world and
how it works.
David came from a war-torn Lebanon where he must have witnessed some terrible things.
He got involved in drug smuggling at a young age, and whether it was the result of his
environment or his ambition isn't clear.
He was arrested at 23 years old with over 100 Kilograms of narcotics in 2004.
He was assisting a man named Jose Sevilla to import the drugs to Australia.
However, both men were under heavy surveillance, and everything they did was documented.
The authorities watched them load the contraband off of the boat and onto a dingy.
They kept watching all the way up until the men were arrested after burying the stash.
Sukkar was sentenced to 21 years in prison with no chance of parole for the first 13
years.
There is no objective evidence to say that Sukkar had any involvement in her fraud.
However, we can't help but wonder how she funded the early days of her scam.
She had to entice people to join her "bank gang" somehow.
Stacks of her husband's ill-gotten cash could be pretty convincing.
While this is pure speculation, the police could never prove his involvement.
But where there's smoke, there's fire.
Court Order Upon her initial arrest, the prosecution asked
that she not be allowed bail as she was deemed a flight risk.
They told the court that not only did she have access to enough money to go wherever
she wanted, but she also had access to multiple identities.
This meant that she might be able to get a flight out of the country and disappear without
a trace.
Prosecutor Brendan Kitchener was quoted as saying, "The defendant has access to multiple
different identities.
Even if released on bail, she could access documents that allow her to leave the country."
As if to prove this point, a pair of overseas plane tickets that happened to be bought under
someone else's name was found in her possession when she was arrested.
The court considered all of this when they decided that she'd be spending Christmas behind
bars.
She had to stay in jail until her hearing a few months later.
When she was arrested, Sara didn't seem too bothered by it.
She was more concerned with things like the cleanliness of the police van.
She was heard saying, "eww," when she got in.
While there is no real way to prove it, some believe she knew the police were coming due
to her coordinated outfit.
Repeated Offense Sara was obviously fired from her job at the
bank due to her crimes, but this did nothing to dissuade her and her "sophisticated Syndicate"
from continuing their work.
Since she no longer had her access, she used other members to get things done.
This allowed her group to steal even more money and push their gains over the half-a-million
mark.
Once the investigation was completed, she was arrested again and charged with over 100
fraud-related offenses.
She was also charged with knowingly running an organized criminal group.
She might be the type of person who wants to look good all the time, but she was in
more casual clothing during her second arrest.
Her low-key outfit and the plane tickets make us believe that she knew they were coming.
Three men were arrested during the investigation after the police carried out multiple raids.
A 27-year-old man from Heckenberg was charged with 40 offenses, while another man from Liverpool
was charged with 34 offenses.
Both of them used their positions as accountants to submit fraudulent tax documents on behalf
of the syndicate.
The last man was a 53 year old from Kangaroo Point that was charged with 33 criminal offenses.
Police said that he used his former role as a bank manager to push the fraudulent tax
documents through.
He was the final piece in their plan to get loans approved without any unwanted attention.
Whereabouts Sara went to a bail hearing in early October
on her whopping 127 counts of fraud.
She was given very strict bail rules, allowing her to return to her 5-week old twin girls
and two-year-old son.
She was forced to put up $1.6 million to ensure she wouldn't disappear using her connections.
Before she was allowed bail, her youngest children were cared for by their parole father,
David.
However, her eldest son's custody was awarded to his biological father after her arrest.
Some actually opposed her bail due to the risk of her committing more fraud.
Their concern is valid, considering she kept committing fraud after her first arrest and
subsequent firing.
Ultimately, Justice Julia Lonegran decided to allow her bail, along with other collateral.
Not only did Sara have to pay out a million in cash, but she also had to put up a property
that was worth $550,000.
Now she is waiting on her court date at home with her family.
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