A conman who scammed celebrity clients out of millions was found dead on the day he was due to be sentenced for running a Ponzi scheme.
The body of Kenneth Charles Grace, 58, was discovered in a motel in Sydney‘s CBD on Thursday, reported The Daily Telegraph.
He was due to be sentenced at Downing Centre District Court that same day after pleading guilty to six charges of dishonest conduct in relation to his investment fund, Goldsky, in April 2023.
Grace ripped off investors, including Olympians Sam Riley and Robbie McEwen, to the tune of around $24million after claiming he could generate returns of up to 20 per cent.
The body of Kenneth Charles Grace (pictured), 58, was discovered in a motel in Sydney’s CBD on Thursday
When he failed to show up at court, a warrant for his arrest was issued.
‘A report will be prepared for the information of the Coroner after the body of a 58-year-old man was found in a CBD motel last week,’ a spokesperson for NSW Police said.
‘Officers from Surry Hills Police Area Command were called to a hotel on Foveaux St about 1.15pm last Thursday (18 January 2024), after a man was found deceased in his room.’
Grace’s business was liquidated in 2018, with his crooked dealings being probed in the Federal Court and the Queensland Supreme Court.
Grace ripped off investors, including Olympians Sam Riley (pictured, right) and Robbie McEwen (left), to the tune of around $24 million after claiming he could generate returns of up to 20 per cent.
He was accused of using money from investors to hire a private jet for his stepdaughter so she could fly to Sydney from Queensland to have breast implants.
He also rented a luxury Sydney Harbour home with its own skippered motorboat ‘so he could clear his head’ in the months before his fund collapsed.
Other victims of his Ponzi scheme included former AFL players Clark Keating who invested $100,000 and and Simon Black who invested $80,000.