A Supreme Court jury has found Perth businessman Chris Marco, of Applecross, Western Australia, guilty of fraud following a five week trial.
Mr Marco's former executive assistant, Linda Marissen, was acquitted of all charges of fraud.
The jury delivered a unanimous verdict in the Supreme Court of Western Australia on 4 September 2025 and found Mr Marco guilty of all 43 fraud charges totalling $34,332,453 relating to six investors.
ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said:
'Today's guilty verdicts mark the end of a sorry chapter that many of Mr Marco's investors would rather forget.
This result delivers justice to investors who Mr Marco defrauded and speaks to ASIC's painstaking investigation into this complex matter.'
The jury found:
- Mr Marco guilty on 43 counts of fraud relating to six investors and a total amount of $34.3 million
- Ms Marissen not guilty on all counts which related to her.
Ms Marissen had been charged with 30 charges of fraud however, at the end of the prosecution case, the Court entered verdicts of not guilty on 13 of the 30 charges as there was insufficient evidence for the jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Ms Marissen had aided Mr Marco in the commission of those fraud offences. The jury then returned not guilty verdicts for the remaining 17 charges relating to Ms Marissen.
Mr Marco has been remanded in custody for sentencing on 30 October 2025.
The matter was investigated by ASIC and prosecuted by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) (CDPP).
Background
Following a four year ASIC investigation, ASIC alleged that between July 2013 and October 2018, Mr Marco obtained over $36.5 million from nine investors with intent to defraud, by deceit or fraudulent means.
In July 2022, Mr Marco was initially charged with 50 counts of fraud pursuant to section 409(1)(a) of the Criminal Code (WA) (22-186MR). The matter proceeded to trial on 43 counts of fraud listed on the indictment.
Following ASIC's continued investigation into Mr Marco's business, it was further alleged that between February 2014 and October 2018, Ms Marissen enabled or aided Chris Marco to defraud more than $29.5 million from six investors.
In May 2023, Ms Marissen, who was employed by Chris Marco as his executive assistant, was initially charged with 34 counts of enabling or aiding the commission of alleged fraud offences by Chris Marco contrary to sections 7(b) and 409 of the Criminal Code (WA) (23-130MR).
The maximum penalty for each offence of fraud under the Criminal Code (WA) is seven years imprisonment or 10 years imprisonment if the person deceived is of or over 60 years of age.
The criminal charges followed earlier Federal Court proceedings taken by ASIC against Mr Marco and the company previously run by him, AMS Holdings (WA) Pty Ltd. In those proceedings, the Federal Court had, on 7 December 2020 ordered the winding up of the unregistered managed investment scheme operated by Mr Marco and AMS Holdings (WA) Pty Ltd. The court also ordered that Mr Marco be permanently restrained from carrying on a financial services business without an Australian Financial Services Licence or operating an unregistered managed investment scheme. (20-314MR).
