David Prince-Popovich, 23, of Waterloo, New South Wales, Australia was found guilty of financial crimes in New South Wales and in Queensland, Australia. He will be sentenced in October 2023.
While employed as an administrative officer at Sell and Parker, a recycling company in New South Wales, Prince-Popovich posed as a rich man with a big family inheritance. In November 2020, while he was a guest at the Vibe Hotel in Darling Harbour, Sydney, New South Wales, he formed a relationship with a hotel employee named Daniel.
After claiming to have a lot of money due to family inheritance, Prince-Popovich offered to take Daniel and Daniel’s friends mates on a trip. The Sell and Parker employee said he was in town alone and did not have anyone else to hang out with.
At the time, Prince-Popovich went by the name David Matahi and contacted the sales and marketing manager of Navair Jet Services to book a return private charter flight from Bankstown, New South Wales to Ballina, New South Wales. He told the manager that he was Sell and Parker director Morgan Parker’s personal assistant and he was booking the flight, which was worth $18,000, on Parker’s behalf.
On November 18, 2020, Prince-Popovich paid a 20% deposit for the flight to Navair Jet Services director Amanda Pegvs. He sent her the names Daniel and Daniel’s four friends as the passengers.
Daniel and the four friends were under the impression that Prince-Popovich paid for the flight out of his own money. The Vibe Hotel employee and his friends transferred the Sell and Parker employee between $520 and $1020 to cover food, alcohol and accommodation for the trip.
The final itinerary for the flight, which cost $28,613, was from Bankstown to King Island, Tasmania, Australia onto Ballina and landing in Mascot, New South Wales. On November 27, 2023, hours before departure, Prince-Popovich sent an email with a payment of $18,311 via three Commonwealth Bank receipts but the Navair Jet Services’ account did not receive the amount.
Days later, Prince-Popovich sent Navair Jet Services two more Commonwealth Bank payment receipts showing transactions of $18,311 and $10,223 , which also did not land in the company’s account. While the receipt transactions were legitimate, the amounts he actually sent were $11, $0.73 and $0.21.
Navair Jet Services contacted Sell and Parker and found out the recycling company’s employees did not go to King Island and Prince-Popovich was not Parker’s assistant. On November 23, 2020, Prince-Popovich was arrested in his apartment in Waterloo.
Later, Prince-Popovich pleaded not guilty to dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, three counts of making a false document to obtain financial advantage and three counts of using a false document to obtain financial advantage. In his absence, he was convicted of the financial offenses plus failing to appear at court.
CONAN Daily 