Ashlyn Nassif, the daughter of fugitive property developer Jean Nassif, succumbed to pressure from her father when she falsified documents for a $150m construction loan, a Sydney court has heard.
The 32-year-old pleaded guilty in June to providing false or misleading information to obtain the loan from Westpac, which was used to construct three apartment towers in Sydney’s north-west in 2021.
She has accepted her role but her lawyer, Murugan Thangaraj SC, on Monday argued her “notorious” father also played a part.
Defence outlines coercive control claims
Thangaraj told Burwood local court on Monday that his ex-wife had described experiencing a decade of coercive control and outlined how this was consistent with the way he treated his daughter.
Jean Nassif would tell his daughter to lose weight, get weight-reducing surgery or cosmetic surgery so “she could look better and he could show her off”, the lawyer told the court.
She was “hardly the glamorous heiress as portrayed,” Thangaraj said.
Father’s legal troubles
Nassif, now 58, had offered to appear on Friday via video link but produced a medical certificate to excuse himself. He fled Australia for rural Lebanon in 2022 and has previously denied wrongdoing.
Her father – who was the head of failed construction firm Toplace – is being pursued by NSW police after a two-year fraud investigation. A warrant has been issued for his arrest and 57 companies linked with Toplace are in administration.
Before his departure, Jean Nassif told his daughter he was “desperate” for the Westpac loan, her lawyer said in court.
“She agreed to do what she should not have and she’s explained how she succumbed to the pressure of her father.
“If she wasn’t working for him or if he wasn’t her father, she would never have committed this offence.”
Prosecution dispute and sentencing
The prosecution has argued Ashlyn Nassif knew the purchasers and contractors at Toplace did not meet the definition of an “at arm’s length” transaction. The defence has disputed this.
She was due to be sentenced on Monday afternoon.
