Marley’s House of Scam (MHS, MHI & Marley Wynter)
Marley's House of Scam
Australian Poker Schedule founder Craig Abernethy became aware of Marley’s House of Sports in late December 2021. A couple of poker players, friends of Craig introduced him to a sports betting syndicate known as Marley’s House of Sports, they thought he might be interested in joining the syndicate himself. However, after months of some detailed research including contacting the owner of the “business” Marley Wynter himself directly via email, it soon raised many red flags, and what turned out to be one of Australia’s biggest ponzi schemes, targeting not only poker players, but over 500 victims through Australia and the world.
Craig created a Facebook group called “Don’t F*ck with Poker Players”, later renamed to Marleys House of Sports, to alert the public, allowed potential victims to collaborate stories, screenshots, and evidence which would eventually help bring the Ponzi scheme and Marley Wynter down, so he would never scam anyone else ever again.
Some information can be found on this page, but there’s plenty more articles found online by searching Marley’s House of Sport in Google.
This part one of the story, aired 17 April, part two can be found below. Courtesy of A Current Affair – Credit Dan Nolan – Channel 9 Australia
Investors chase poker player over missing millions after failed sports betting scheme
Victims of an alleged Ponzi scheme fear they may never get their money back after the man they invested millions with disappeared without a trace.
It was called the House of Sport, but it’s now accused of being a ‘House of Scam’ and the man behind it, Marley Wynter, has disappeared.
The poker player promised juicy returns to investors through his horse and sports betting business House of Sport.
But Wynter’s house of cards collapsed earlier this year, with more than $40 million in returns owing.
Nicky Hotop was told about Wynter’s wizardry at finding winners by a friend who had invested and received juicy returns.
She invested $13,000, receiving regular reports on how much her investment was growing.
Her returns hit $95,000 but when it came time to withdraw, excuse after excuse emerged.
“One of my other daughters said, ‘Mum, this sounds like a Ponzi scheme’,” Nicky said.
“I’m like, ‘What is that?’ … It’s all lies. It’s all smoke and mirrors.”
“I hope he’s made accountable for the lives that he’s ruined.”
Craig Abernethy is also a poker player, but when he heard about returns of up to 400 per cent he feared there was a joker in the pack.
“There were quite a lot of red flags. There was no transparency, he never showed any betting slips,” Abernethy said.
“In reality, bookmakers will restrict winning punters well before they make a million dollars.”
“Some people withdrew their whole super and gave it to this guy, one person actually gave this guy $800k.
“You don’t know you’ve been ripped off until it’s too late.”
He also checked out claims made on the House of Sport website that $50,000 had been donated to a kids’ cancer charity.
The charity confirmed it never received a cent.
Burnt investors started contacting Abernethy with their tales of woe – so far he’s tallied up more than $3 million invested from 79 people.
“And the total stack balances like with all the return on investment was somewhere over $40 million,” Abernethy said.
But he claims the $40 million figure was as real as Monopoly money.
“Just pixels on a computer screen. You know, there’s just nothing behind it at all,” Abernethy said.
As investors chased their missing millions, Wynter assured them it wasn’t a Ponzi scheme and even gave some clients their money back.
But the House of Sport officially shut down in January last year, with Wynter claiming investors’ initial deposits were still available, but frozen by the banks.
Late last year, he disappeared, meaning those seeking compensation can’t even serve him with a legal claim.
Lawyer Brent Stowers is now representing 11 former investors, seeking more than $1 million they deposited.
“He has put a lot of blame on the banks, and said the banks have frozen his accounts for various reasons, including being too successful as a gambler,” Stowers said.
“They’ve been kept in the dark, they’ve been provided false information, they’ve been made promise after promise that hasn’t come through.”
Stowers was granted a Supreme Court order forcing Wynter’s former lawyer Bradford Hill to provide the latest contact details he has for the House of Sport boss.
“There’s probably a couple of things that my clients would like. First and most obvious is to find Marley, so that he can be served and that he can answer this case in court,” Stowers said.
“But most importantly my clients would like to have their lives back.”
A Current Affair understands both Queensland and New South Wales Police have received fraud complaints and a joint investigation is underway.
FULL NSW POLICE STATEMENT
NSW Police are aware Queensland Police are investigating a number of fraud offences.
NSW Police will assist as required.
FULL QUEENSLAND POLICE STATEMENT
Police are investigating a fraud complaint made on November 17, 2023.
Investigations into this report are ongoing.
Marley's House of Scam - Part Two
Marley was summoned to the Brisbane Supreme Court and finally showed up. ACA were on the spot and asked him some questions
This part two of the story, aired 8 November 2024, part two can be found below. Courtesy of A Current Affair – Credit Dan Nolan – Channel 9 Australia
https://www.9now.com.au/a-current-affair/season-2024/episode-310
'You owe me seven figures': Burnt investor confronts investment scheme owner in court
8 November 2024 – by A Current Affair
https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/client-confronts-investment-scheme-owner-in-court/1aa703ef-a443-4933-a908-e8001b959819
He promised investors massive returns, but now Marley Wynter is a man under fire with a court order to cough up $4.8 million to former clients.The poker player promised juicy returns to investors through his horse and sports betting business House of Sport.But in January last year, his businesses suddenly closed with millions of dollars missing.
Wynter had been avoiding court and missing in action for a year, but with a potential arrest warrant looming, he finally fronted up to face the music. But his court appearance wasn’t without confrontation, when an angry former client showed up asking for his money.
“Marley you owe me seven figures mate, it was supposed to pay for three mortgages so I could be debt free in retirement,” former client Bob Varcoe claimed.
Varcoe said even received an email from Marley’s House of Sports stating he had $1.13 million set aside for withdrawal. In a statement, Wynter’s new lawyer Amanda Fayad said he was “taking extraordinary measures to right a wrong” “His sole objective to return the funds that rightfully belong to the MHS members,” Fayad said. “Mr Wynter has asked us to ensure the public knows that despite appearances, he has always intended to do the right thing, and will be able to prove that in the coming weeks and months as proceedings unfold.”
FULL STATEMENT FROM WYNTER’S LAWYER AMANDA FAYAD
Our client has returned to Australia from his overseas travel at the first opportunity it became obvious to him that the banks were not distributing the funds held in the business’ accounts to the former MHS members.
We have been supplied with letters from the National Australia Bank from on or around mid 2023 advising that the accounts belonging to our client were frozen, and letters following advising that the NAB would be permanently closing those accounts.
We have also obtained letters from Westpac of a similar nature.
Our client has provided us with a recorded call between him and a member of the NAB fraud resolution team which advises that the accounts with NAB were originally frozen as a result of a complaint about the “sale of a racehorse”.
Mr Wynter has never sold a racehorse.
We are aware that the individual who made the original complaint to NAB has since retracted that complaint on the basis that it was without merit, and has provided signed statements to that effect.
Despite the original complainant having retracted their report, the NAB have either failed or refused to re-open the accounts.
It is our understanding that Westpac has advised their decision to freeze and close our client’s accounts were based on the information they had received from NAB, and would not be able to unfreeze or re-open the accounts until receiving advice from NAB to do so.
Our client has fully complied with the latest court order, providing everything he has had available to him in relation to his communication with NAB and Westpac, as well as documents from former MHS members who made AFCA complaints due to their accounts also being frozen in this debacle.
We can also confirm that the telephone call between our client and NAB clearly identifies the original complaint about the alleged racehorse sale as the instigating cause for the account freeze and closure.
Despite what we understand to be a retraction by that complainant, the investigation appears to have been closed by the NAB with no recourse to our client, or the MHS members.
Mr Wynter does not accept the Supreme Court order for a payment of 4.8 million to those 11 plaintiffs on the basis that the amount awarded in those proceedings, if recoverable from the bank accounts, would completely deprive other former MHS members of their rightful share of the frozen funds.
The plaintiffs have foreshadowed bankruptcy proceedings, which we have strongly discouraged on the basis that it would make recovery potentially impossible for other former MHS members, and have actively reached out to their solicitors for cooperation in working to have the accounts unfrozen for the benefit of all affected parties, not just a few.
Our client has instructed us to commence proceedings against the banking institutions to obtain not only evidence of the account balances, but evidence of the investigation undertaken, and what, if any acts those banks took to return funds to their rightful owners.
Our client has advised us he has no interest in receiving the money in the accounts, and instructs that once the accounts are unfrozen and the full amount of the funds made available, to have them paid directly to our practice trust account.
Our client’s instructions are that upon our receipt of the funds, to distribute them according to the last known ledger balances of the MHS members.
Our instructions are to reach out to those members the instant we obtain the funds, obtain their account details, and return their funds to them.
Mr Wynter is taking extraordinary measures to right a wrong, his sole objective to return the funds that rightfully belong to the MHS members.
He is asking for the cooperation of the former MHS members, and of the banking institutions to help us quickly resolve the banking issues so the funds can be returned in proportion to the former MHS members.
Mr Wynter has asked us to ensure the public knows that despite appearances, he has always intended to do the right thing, and will be able to prove that in the coming weeks and months as proceedings unfold.
