How a beloved widow's $600,000 ended up going to a crook

Seventy-six-year-old Rosanna Kert is a likable, trusting soul, so when the man she loved left her $800,000 after he died, she did a bit of online research looking for a reasonable rate of interest - and ended up unwittingly handing $600,000 of the money to a crook.

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Andrew and Rosanna. Inset: developer behind 3 Property Group Jaime Charles Farrelly. Picture supplied

She opted for a Canberra developer who seemed reputable, so she lent what would have made the remainder of her life comfortable to a company run by a man who has just been convicted of serious crimes.

"I was just googling companies to invest with at a good interest rate," she said.

Online, the 3 Property Group seemed ridgy-didge, so on December 13, 2022, she signed over the money. It's the last she's seen of it.

He's awaiting sentencing, with a possible two years behind bars ahead. In the meantime, he's out on bail having surrendered his passport. He has to report to police every day.

The regulator said that Farrelly, of Kingston, "failed to manage companies to the standard expected of company directors".

"At the time of ASIC's decision, the companies owed a combined total of $9,435,642 to unsecured creditors including $3,084,593 to ATO and $19,652 to ACT Office of Revenue," the regulator said.

But Rosanna Kert discovered nothing of the illegal activities Farrelly was ultimately charged over. His trial and conviction only happened after she had signed away the money. The Canberra Times tried to contact him through several routes but with no response.

She was actually left $800,000 when her partner died, but she gave $200,000 to family members who needed a bit of help. The rest she meant to use to supplement her meagre state pension. The loan agreement signed by Farrelly on December 13, 2022, said that the 8.5 per cent interest on it would be $4250 a month.

"It was the extra that makes life pleasant. I may not be here in 10 weeks or 10 years," the 76-year-old said, "so I planned to do some travelling".

Without the money, she now scrimps to get by, planning for future bills like car and house insurance, cutting other insurance polices.

"I don't eat much and I don't cook much. I live by myself."

She married young and then stayed married for 27 years. The alcoholic husband she eventually left has since died, but she then found real love in the shape of Andrew who died in 2019, leaving her all his estate.

It was a surprise. She said he had told her he would do it but she said she told him not to: "I said, 'I'm OK'. He said, 'I don't care. I love you. You are my life'."

So when the solicitor read the will to her she expected most of Andrew's money to go to his family. "He said, 'He's left everything to you'."

Jaime Charles Farrelly, inset, with fake badges found during the investigation. Pictures supplied

She had worked as a receptionist until well into her 60s so she hadn't built up a mountain of savings but the windfall meant a transformation of her life from one of always being on the financial edge to one of comfort.

"I never thought before about how people live on a pension because I was working but then I thought 'wow', this is unbelievable." Travel and an ease with bills became possible.

But not now. Others are also trying to get money back from the convicted man but it's not thought that he has sufficient money left to pay all, if any, of his debts. Others, like banks, may be higher up the list.

They would have had expert legal advice before lending to a man who turned out to be crooked.

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