Matt Simons AKA Matthew Douglas Simons – Scam and Frauds : Review 2024
Matt Simons aka Matthew Douglas Simons is a convicted fraudster in Sydney, Australia.
He stole millions of dollars from fellow private school parents Kambala. However, he faced charges for a small portion of the stolen amount.
The court found him guilty of getting $230,000 from Warwick Miller through fraud. At the time, Miller was the head of Guess Inc.
As a result, Matt Simons had to serve 18 months in weekend detention.
That’s not all.
The fraudster has started scamming more people by using a new shady scheme. He gets his victims to pay for his $1800 a week upmarket beachfront property in Byron Bay. Also, the property has a Mercedes Benz he owns.
Matthew Douglas Simons had to file for bankruptcy in 2004. At that time, he used to owe $5 million to his creditors.
Did You Know?
There were many cases of bankruptcy fraud in the past, but one of the most prominent and notorious ones is the Enron scandal. Enron was a Houston-based energy company that had a huge collapse in 2001. Enron scammed to overstating earnings, hiding debts, inflating assets, and manipulating accounting rules.
However, that didn’t stop him from living an extravagant life. He drove a Jaguar, lived in his home in Vaucluse and had a boat.
His three daughters were studying in Kambala, a renowned private school.
However, the people funding Matt’s lifestyle were other parents whose children studied at Kambala. This included Rod Minell, Mark Mikolaitis, Mr Miller and Pierce cody.
Only one person was able to get his money back from the clutches of Matt Simons aka Matthew Douglas Simons. That was Rodney Adler, who went to jail for an “appalling lack of commercial morality” when he was the director of HIH.
Matt had taken the money of those people through making false promises. He told them that he was investing the funds in commercial property.
By 2007, the court had acquitted the long-time swindler for defrauding Mr Cody of $668,000. However, the case he went to jail for was for scamming Mr Miller.
Matt Simons (Matthew Douglas Simons) Threatened Most of His Victims:
Many of his other victims tried to get their money back.
But they didn’t get their funds. Instead, they received threats.
One victim, Eddy Joseph, received a “cease and desist” letter from Matt’s lawyer. It’s worth noting that Matt owed $150,000 to Eddy. However, the letter said that if he kept asking Matt for the funds, Matt wil file criminal charges against him.
This included charges of blackmail and use of a telecommunication network to harass him.
Eddy wasn’t the only victim who received threats from Matthew Douglas Simons aka Matt Simons.
Matt Simons threatened another victim with charges of “demanding money with menaces”. Similarly, he told another guy t hat he wouldn’t hesitate in starting legal proceedings against him if he would cause Matt or his business any economic harm.
One victim told the media that he wanted him accountable. The victim was in dire straits in 2014. His wife was suffering from a terminal illness while his business wasn’t generating much profit.
He was in serious needs of some funds. Matt offered him a non-bank loan and charged him $15,000 in legal fees. However, he never produced the loan.
In other words, the victim never recieved any money of the loan. Matt vanished after taking teh legal fees.
The victim told the media, “Matt knew everything about my situation. He knew about my wife and her condition. In fact, he seemed quite sympathetic too.”
Also, he told the media that Matt Simons aka Matthew Douglas Simons was only interested in taking money from him.
Since then, the victim’s wife has died and he has lost his business. Recently, he suffered a breakdown.
“Matt Took Advantage of People Suffering from Terminal Illnesses, Charging Them Thousands of Dollars In the Guise of Loan Processing Fee or “Legal Fee” for Loans He Never Produced”
Another victim came forward. She pointed out that her husband was suffering from cancer and the couple was in a lot of debt. They were looking for a non-bank financing option when they came across Matt Simons.
He assured them that he can provide them funding from Hong Kong. However, he asked for $5,000 in legal fees and $4,000 in due diligence.
Apart from that, he asked for a few thousand more.
To pay him, the victim and her husband borrowed $14,500 from their friends. After they sent Matt the funds, they hoped he would help them secure the loan.
Weeks passed and there was no trace of any loan or documentation.
Later, he asked them for $80,000 and 5 days later, an additional $20,000. This infuriated the victim and she confronted him saying, “We came to you because we had no money.”
In reply, Simons advised the victim to get these funds from her friends and family.
Afterwards, the victim kept trying to get a refund from him. Till this date, he has only returned her $2,000.
Joseph is another victim who turned to Matt when Westpac threatened to put his business into receivership.
Matt told Joseph that he had $600,000 from a Chinese investor. However, to use these funds, he needed $27,000 for legal and consultancy expenses.
Also, he used a scamming technique he had used on multiple Kambala parents. He told Joseph that a major commercial deal was happening in Port Macquarie and he can get a substantial return if he funded Simons.
Moreover, he told Joseph that he was closing the deal soon.
They signed an agreement but Matt didn’t pay a penny. All in all, Joseph had given him $150,000.
Later, when he tried to get his money back, Matt threatened to file charges of extortion and harassment against Joseph.
How Matthew Douglas Simons aka Matt Simons Started Another Scam in 2015:
In 2015, Matt Simons used to claim that he was the Principal at Private Equity Business. However, he didn’t set up the company until 2017 and funded it by taking $150,000 from his business partner’s mother.
Brett Richardson, his business partner, was the director of Private Equity Business for only 3 days.
He told the media that Matt was looking for someone who had an AFS license because he himself was ineligible.
Brett was shocked to find out that Matt was ineligible for an AFS license because he was convicted of fraud.
However, it was too late.
Brett’s mother had loaned Matthew Douglas Simons $125,000 by then for 6 months.
When Matt wasn’t able to pay a $700 monthly interest payment on time, she wrote to him saying she needed the money for her retirement fund. Also, Brett’s mother relied on those funds to manage her daily expenses.
Matt assured her that he would make the payment and will repay the loan in full by February 2018.
Nevertheless, he never repaid her.
Eventually, she had to go to court. There, Simons hired a top-level lawyer and Brett’s mother lost the case. She had to pay him an additional $3500 as legal costs.
Matt’s former assistant told the media that Matt Simons aka Matthew Douglas Simons is a nasty piece of work. Everything he says is a lie.
She worked for him for a few months in 2017. The former assistant shared that it was extremely stressful to deal with everyone Simons owed money to.
She became a victim of Matt Simons as well. He didn’t pay her at all and owed her $10,000. The former assistant is a single mother of three.
Matt Uses Legal Loopholes to Avoid Paying His Victims:
Many of Matt Simons’ victims went to police. But they told them that it was a civil dispute.
Most of these people can’t afford the legal expenses of chasing after a serial scammer for years in court. So far, only one victim has succeeded in doing so.
Kel Attkins is in the business of wastewater lying. He had paid Matt around $6000 for a business plan.
Matt took a few months and supplied him with a business plan that had no relation to Kel’s company. It was generic with nothing unique.
Surely, he wanted his money back. But Kel only had Matt’s phone number and a PO box number.
He waited for hours hoping Matt would respond to his mail but it was all in vain.
Then, he hired an experienced debt collector, Judy Babington. She was able to secure a judgment against Matt Simons.
The tribunal noted that Matt claimed to have an executive MBA from Bond University but his work quality suggests otherwise. They ordered him to refund the sum of $5678.
Even though the court had ordered Matt to refund the amount, he never did.
Kel told the media that Matt kept claiming he had money in a trust. He kept making excuses for weeks. However, the debt collector had to go back to court and get a garnishee order on Matt’s bank account.
This allowed Kel Attkins to get his money back.
Conclusion
Matt Simons aka Matthew Douglas Simons has numerous victims. However, it’s sad that only one or two have been able to get their funds back from the crook.
You should be extremely cautious of scammers like Matt Simons.
Just as Matt runs his scams in Australia, there’s a scammer in the UK pulling a similar scam. His name is Boyd Parker. He is notorious for taking money from people and giving ‘fake’ jobs to young graduates.
People like Matt and Boyd take advantage of your gullibility. Hence, be extra cautious when someone approaches, claiming to provide you with substantial funds very easily.
