THE head of failed stockbroking firm Opes Prime, Lirim "Laurie" Emini, told his staff to falsify the accounts of six rich clients, covering them for losses of up to $200 million, as the value of their shares collapsed, a court has been told. The explosive allegations of fraud and manipulation leading up to last week's failure of the Melbourne-based broking house have come to light in evidence to the Federal Court by an Australian Securities and Investments Commission investigator.
According to ASIC, initial investigations indicated that Mr Emini engineered a "round robin" of assets - borrowing shares from some clients' accounts to prop up the six wealthy clients in an increasingly desperate bid to ensure they did not lose their money.
One of the six clients was shielded from sharemarket losses amounting to $145 million.
Yesterday, as Mr Emini reportedly remained holed up in his Templestowe home, and as receivers combed through the wreckage of his firm's accounts, it emerged that the stockbroker had links to two businessmen who have ties to the business empire of convicted drugs boss Tony Mokbel.
It is also believed that two financial services businessmen with links to other underworld identities had been left severely exposed by their investments with Opes Prime Stockbroking.
Opes Prime was put into receivership and administration last Thursday, owing more than $1 billion to secured creditors including ANZ Bank and Merrill Lynch, and leaving about 1200 investor clients facing potential losses totalling hundreds of millions of dollars.
ANZ appointed receiver Deloitte to recover the $650 million it is owed, while Opes directors appointed Ferrier Hodgson to protect the interest of unsecured creditors, includ- ing staff and broking clients.
Among the biggest investor clients of the firm was flamboyant Sydney criminal lawyer Chris Murphy, who remained tight-lipped yesterday about his rumoured loss of up to $200 million. He said he had little idea what was going on "apart from the fact that I'm losing money".
He also denied he had been subject to any margin calls on his share portfolio, which would involve a lender demanding repayment when share prices fall. "I'm just a customer of Opes and I don't know what they've done with my portfolio," he said.
Another prominent Opes client, Melbourne businessman Leo Khouri, is planning to launch a class action against the company in a bid to win back control over his frozen share portfolio. Mr Khouri and his associates are believed to have invested about $50 million through Opes before its collapse.
The Age 1 Apr 2008
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