From silk to prison greens
Norman O’Bryan’s fall from grace has been staggering. Now the former barrister faces the prospect of jail.
There is only one step left in the humiliation of blue-blood barrister Norman O’Bryan over the Banksia Securities scandal — jail.
O’Bryan has now pleaded guilty to ripping off elderly investors who signed up for a class action after Banksia, once Australia’s largest mortgage debenture company, collapsed with debts of $663 million in 2012.
O’Bryan will be back in the County Court of Victoria for a sentencing hearing on 16 April, when prosecutors are likely to seek jail over what a judge called “one of the darkest chapters in the legal history of this state”.
The Banksia claim was settled for $64 million in 2018, which should have been the end of the matter.
