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Perth businessman Chris Marco had lodged an appeal over his 43 fraud convictions for allegedly defrauding his clients of millions of dollars, and investing their money in real estate and luxury cars.
Marco was sentenced to 14 years jail in the WA Supreme Court in October after he was found guilty on all charges of fraud by a jury.
Chris Marco outside the West Australian Supreme Court last year.Credit: Jesinta Burton
An appeal was lodged in his case on Thursday afternoon by his lawyer Luka Margaretic.
The appeal asks the court to set aside the convictions in all 43 counts, and says they are “having regard to the evidence … unreasonable and cannot be supported”.
This masthead understands appeals barrister Robert Wilson has been briefed on the potential appeal.
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The matter will be heard by WA’s Court of Appeal at a later date.
Margaretic first indicated he would appeal Marco’s conviction directly after sentencing.
“I don’t really want to say too much, because it’s going to another forum,” he said.
“We are very confident of appeal prospects.”
Margaretic said he understood Marco was upset by the sentence and indicated its length was a surprise.
“I’ve never seen anything like it in my 35 years of practice,” he said.
Marco was jailed after allegedly taking more than $250 million from clients over the seven years he ran his business, with prosecutors claiming he represented himself as a “high net worth individual” who had access to exclusive private investment schemes.
“You did not tell any of the victims you would use their money to pay their and other investor’s returns … to purchase real estate, shares, cars, personal collectibles and personal expenditure,” Justice Natalie Whitby said during sentencing.
“You ... had no intention of using the victims’ money in the manner you had represented,” she said.
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