Businessmen and members of their families and lawyers, as well as some celebrities, have allegedly lost a massive amount of money to a betting scheme that recruited the elite residents of the eastern suburbs as investors.
Reportedly, the 31-year-old Michael Pryde used his old acquaintances from private St Joseph’s College Hunters Hill to establish the scheme recruiting affluent customers to make investments in a “guaranteed” system called Simply the Bets. The individuals who got recruited were not aware that the man operating the service whom they trusted with their money had no betting licence whatsoever, as confirmed by the local gambling regulatory body, nor that he used a fake business address in a non-existent apartment situated in North Sydney’s prestigious McLaren Apartments complex.
The Simply the Bets scheme has been promoted by its operator as an honest sports betting system that could guarantee actual results by using a proven algorithm system that works and can promise profits, unlike many other sports betting systems.
Recently, the Supreme Court has issued a freezing order against Michel Pryde in an effort to protect a total of AU$1,357,304 that the betting scheme operator allegedly owed two businessmen, who had started legal action in court to get their money back. As reported by The Daily Telegraph, some lawyers have confirmed that other civil lawsuits are being prepared.
So far, Mr Pryde has not faced charges with any criminal offence.
Some Investors Took Their Money Back, Court Filings Say
The Simply the Bets scheme operator, however, has faced a separate action, as part of which the District Court ordered Michael Pryde to pay the sum of AU$74,542 to the son of entertainment figure Kevin Jacobson – Dean Jacobson.
According to Mr Pryde’s bank statements, his betting scheme was still operational until November 2022. As mentioned above, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) confirmed that Simply the Bets had never held an operating licence allowing it to legally offer its services in Australia.
In June 2022, one of the scheme’s investors received a copy of a Commonwealth Bank statement proving that Pryde had a total of AU$2,620,803 in his account. The Supreme Court, however, said that the documents were falsified and the actual amount was AU$2,620. Another investor told the Supreme Court in an affidavit that he had become extremely concerned that the alleged profits from his money that the owner of the scheme had asserted to have achieved may have been forged. According to his affidavit that the Court has released, he was referred to the scheme by a business partner whose lawyer son praised the profits he was generating through Mr Pryde’s system.
So far, some of the scheme’s more than 100 investors, including a popular lawyer and a prominent real estate agent, got their money back, while others, who became part of the scheme at a later stage, are still owed millions of dollars by the operator.
The owner and operator of Simply the Bets confirmed for the Daily Telegraph that he is facing a legal action that had a devastating effect on his mental health. He also shared there were always two sides to every story and reminded that the case was still ongoing and had not been finalised in the courts.
- Author
Daniel Williams
