Unkempt Tycoon In Court
Newcastle Herald
Wednesday November 9, 2005
FOUR years after the state coroner pronounced him dead from a boating accident in Port Stephens, flamboyant millionaire businessman Harry Gordon has appeared in a Sydney court charged over a $3.5-million life insurance swindle.
Gordon, 56, was arrested at Sydney Airport after arriving from New Zealand on Monday night. His dishevelled appearance in Waverley Local Court yesterday was a far cry from his last public appearance in Australia, the day of his alleged drowning in June 2000, when he bought bottles of champagne, ate a hearty restaurant lunch and sailed his boat along the Karuah River at Port Stephens, when he disappeared. A police statement to the court said that when police interviewed Gordon he "was vague and gave the impression he was living a life of fantasy". The statement revealed that his wife, Sheila Gordon, had told police in August that he was alive and living in NZ under the name Robert Motzel. She described how he had prepared for his disappearance, and had remained in Sydney for a year after he had "drowned". Mrs Gordon said he left Australia under a false passport in July 2001 and travelled to Spain, England and South Africa. She alleged he told her his share of the $3.5 million AMP life insurance policy was to be transferred to overseas bank accounts. She said Gordon had settled in NZ after their relationship collapsed. Australian Federal Police contacted New Zealand authorities and discovered that Robert Motzel had married a NZ woman in September. After honeymooning in the Cook Islands, Gordon went to Fiji, where he was given a New Zealand passport in his real name. Magistrate Elizabeth Corbett released Gordon on bail despite police opposition.He faces charges of conspiracy to defraud, false representation resulting in police investigation and passport offences. SMH
© 2005 Newcastle Herald