A disgraced property guru is living a life of luxury with his cashed-up bride, after hundreds of mum-and-dad investors lost more than $27million to his schemes.
The pair call each other Bonnie and Clyde – and it’s easy to see why.
Sasha Hopkins, 37, was once celebrated for his rags-to-riches story.
He went from a Queensland kid booted out of school for stealing computers, to the owner of a $55million property empire at 31.
But on May 31, 2022, his legal troubles began.
The Federal Court froze the assets of Hopkins and his company, The A Team Property Group.
Hopkins was also ordered to hand over his passport and remain in Australia.
For years, he had been collecting money from mum-and-dad investors – in many cases their life savings or superannuation.
In June 2022, the Federal Court amended Sasha Hopkins’ travel ban. The following month, he was seen leaning against a sportscar with his American wife on Italy’s Amalfi Coast
They got engaged with much fanfare at the luxury hotel Crown Towers Melbourne
With glossy ads on Facebook and Instagram, Hopkins offered investments in property development projects, promising returns of up to 50 per cent.
But many of the projects failed to deliver, hundreds of people lost their investments, and eventually the Internet was scrubbed of Hopkins’ ads and even his company website.
Corporate watchdog the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) had obtained the interim orders on Hopkins while it investigated him and his companies.
It was concerned that he had no license to run investment schemes and had been misusing investor money, including ‘converting investor funds into crypto assets’.
Hopkins did manage to get his passport back and leave Australia in 2022, however.
On June 6, 2022, the Federal Court amended his travel ban, allowing him to leave the country until July 13 so that he could travel to Europe.
That month, his new girlfriend Kaitlynn Lanpher posted a photo to social media of the couple embracing while leaning against a sportscar on Italy’s Amalfi Coast.
Investors who had lost up to $250,000 fumed as they watched the couple’s fast life – though Sasha and Kaitlynn were quick to block and delete the comments of critics.
The couple call each other ‘Bonnie’ and ‘Clyde’ – a reference to a notorious American couple who robbed banks – and have matching tattoos
Among the out-of-pocket Aussies was David and his wife, who lost $91,000 in a development at Clayfield, Brisbane, in 2018.
‘There was definitely a lack of remorse, zero accountability, zero compassion and extremely poor communication throughout the entire (ultimately failed) project,’ David told Daily Mail Australia.
‘The most I got out of him was “it’s an investment, and there’s always a risk with investing,” never an apology or any kind of compassion, no offer to refund the exorbitant “project management fees” of $16,500 up front.’
Project updates became more and more scarce as David heard from other investors that there had been a fire in the development, a homeless man was found squatting in one of the houses, finance had been rejected from lenders and the local council was not approving development applications.
The project officially failed in 2020.
David was astonished when he saw that, during ASIC’s investigation two years later, Hopkins had ‘quickly gone overseas on a luxury holiday with his new girlfriend’.
‘It’s not a great look and leaves a sour taste in the mouths of those left holding the bag and licking their financial wounds.’
After Hopkins’ jaunt on the Amalfi Coast, he returned to Australia and, in July 2023, ASIC finished its inquiry and took civil action against him and his company for unlicensed conduct.
The family flew to Fiji following the Federal Court judgment, staying at the five-star Fiji Marriott Resort in Momi Bay
Hopkins and Lanpher kept living large, and their romance kept blossoming. It included the pet names ‘Bonnie’ and ‘Clyde’, a reference to a notorious American couple who robbed banks, and matching tattoos.
The following month, they got engaged with much fanfare at the luxury hotel Crown Towers Melbourne.
In March 2024, they had a lavish wedding in Noosa Heads, Queensland.
Photos from the event showed the newlyweds arriving at the ceremony in a luxury speedboat.
Next month, Lanpher posted photos of her life in a sprawling Bali mansion, complete with staff.
In November 2024 came the judgment in the Federal Court – the result of ASIC’s legal action.
Justice Beach found that Hopkins had run multiple unregistered investment schemes in breach of company law.
In total, 217 investors had suffered losses of about $27million from several of Hopkins’ schemes dating back to 2018, the judge said.
In January, Hopkins and Lanpher checked into a business class lounge at Melbourne Airport
Hopkins was ordered to pay a penalty of $1.25million, and he was disqualified from owning a corporation for four years.
But despite the staggering amount of investor money lost – and his eye-watering fine – in January, Hopkins and Lanpher checked into a business class lounge at Melbourne Airport.
They flew to Fiji with their four children.
Lanpher posted photos from the five-star Fiji Marriott Resort in Momi Bay.
The couple has returned from their island getaway and are now based in Melbourne.
This month, Lanpher announced they were expecting their first child together, in addition to the two children they each have from previous relationships.
Hopkins told Daily Mail Australia the money for trips in recent years had come from ‘my wife Kaitlynn’, who is independently wealthy due to a trust fund.
‘My assets were frozen for over two and a half years – so how could I be using investor funds to go on trips?’ he said.
‘There’s never been a cent of investor money taken, touched, misappropriated during this entire saga. I have never stolen a cent of anyone’s money.’
He explained that Kaitlynn had paid for the Fiji trip to help her two children recover from the death of their father from brain cancer in December.
‘Do people expect I’m never going to do anything for the rest of my life? I’ve paid the price. I’ve also lost everything in terms of reputation, millions of dollars, businesses I developed over years.
‘I can’t be a director, I can’t get a loan, anyone that types my name into Google – I’ve been crucified.’
Lanpher confirmed the trips were paid for with her own money.
‘Why should Sash be vilified because I grew up with a trust fund and am able to live a comfortable life?’ she said.
As for the investors who lost money in his schemes, Hopkins said ‘there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about anybody that’s entrusted me to hopefully get ahead financially. It weighs on me every day’.
But he added that he had a ‘higher ratio of clients that have achieved great success than the people that have lost money.
‘I’m sorry for everything that’s happened.’
