It seemed too good to be true — and it was.
In scenes akin to the ‘Fyre’ Netflix documentary, which follows a charming man conning partygoers into a fantasy luxury festival on a posh island, David Prince-Popovich flew a group of new friends on a private jet to enjoy the best weekend of their lives.
But little did they know, he fraudulently booked the eye-watering $30,000 flight — and he was not who he made out to be.
Court documents obtained by news.com.au reveal 23-year-old Prince-Popovich, from Waterloo in Sydney, has been found guilty of a string of financial crimes in NSW — adding to his “extensive criminal history” for similar offences in Queensland.
While the multistate fraudster worked a mundane job as an administrative officer at recycling company Sell and Parker, he posed as a high-flying recipient of a lucrative family inheritance.
That’s according to police facts tendered to Downing Centre Local Court, which state it all started when Prince-Popovich was a guest at the Vibe Hotel in Darling Harbour in November 2020 and “formed a relationship” with a staff member there named Daniel.
Prince-Popovich told Daniel he “had a lot of money due to family inheritance” and offered to take Daniel and his mates on a trip as “he was in town alone and didn’t have anyone else to hang out with”.
Meanwhile, Prince-Popovich contacted the sales and marketing manager of Navair Jet Services to book a return private charter flight from Bankstown in southwest Sydney to the NSW coastal town of Ballina.
Going by the name of David Matahi, he purported to be the personal assistant of his company’s director, Morgan Parker, and said he was booking the flight on Ms Parker’s behalf.
On November 18, Prince-Popovich paid a 20 per cent deposit for the flight to the director of Navair Jet Services, Amanda Pegvs. He sent her the names of the passengers, being Daniel and his friends.
The final itinerary for the flight — which cost a whopping $28,613 — was Bankstown to King Island in Tasmania, onto Ballina and landing in Mascot in Sydney.
In the hours before departure on November 27, Prince-Popovich sent Navair Jet Services an email with a payment of $18,311 via three Commonwealth Bank receipts.
Upon the jet returning, the marketing manager of Navair Jet Services contacted Prince-Popovich to chase the never-received payment of $18,311.
Days later, the accused sent Navair Jet Services two further Commonwealth Bank payment receipts showing transactions of $18,311 and $10,223, but the money had still not landed in the company’s account.
When Navair Jet Services contacted the accounts team of Sell and Parker directly, they said they had no knowledge of the flight, they did not go to King Island and Prince-Popovich was not Ms Parker’s assistant.
Ms Pegvs reported the incident to police, who discovered the receipt transactions Prince-Popovich sent were legitimate but he sent the amounts $11, $0.73 and $0.21 — far from the owed total of $28,613.
Investigators then contacted Daniel, who told them he and four friends transferred Prince-Popovich between $520 and $1020 to cover accommodation, food and alcohol for the trip.
“They were all of the belief the accused was wealthy and paid for the flight out of his own money,” the facts read.
Police arrested Prince-Popovich in his Waterloo apartment on November 23. He later pleaded not guilty to three counts of making a false document to obtain financial advantage, three counts of using a false document to obtain financial advantage and one count of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.
He did not turn up to a further court appearance and was convicted in his absence of the financial offences, as well as one count of failing to appear at court.
Prince-Popovich is due to be sentenced later this month.