The auction of a confiscated luxury Sydney penthouse seized as a result of a proceeds of crime investigation will deliver $15 million in community benefits.
The two-level, three-bedroom property in The Rocks was confiscated in 2024, following an investigation and litigation over a five-year period by the AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT).
The CACT investigation was launched as a result of Operation Cabestro, an Australian Border Force (ABF)-led investigation into large-scale excise fraud involving the importation of alcohol. Four men were charged with various criminal offences.
CACT investigators identified numerous luxury items and assets suspected of being proceeds of crime. One of those assets was The Rocks' penthouse.
The three-bedroom penthouse, which enjoys unobstructed views of Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House, was restrained by the AFP-led CACT in 2020.
The CACT litigation team successfully applied to the County Court of Victoria in 2020 to have the penthouse restrained under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) and it was forfeited in 2024.
The Official Trustee under the POCA, which is the Official Trustee in Bankruptcy at the Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA), appointed a real estate agency to auction the property on 16 April, 2025. It sold for $15 million.
The proceeds of the sale will be placed in the Confiscated Assets Account (CAA), a special purpose account managed by the Official Trustee on behalf of the Commonwealth, to be distributed into crime prevention measures, diversion programs or other law enforcement measures to benefit the community.
Some programs funded from the CAA include the AFP's ThinkUKnow online child safety schools program working to protect Australia's children from online harm, a human trafficking awareness campaign 'Look a Little Deeper', and the National DNA Program for Unidentified and Missing Persons.
AFP Detective Superintendent Scott Raven said a critical strategy in the fight against organised crime was targeting criminals' illicit wealth to prevent it funding further illegal activities.
"Money remains the lifeblood of organised crime, and disrupting the flow of ill-gotten finances helps prevent further harm to the community by cutting off revenue and motivation," Det Supt Raven said.
"It is rewarding that funds forfeited through the CACT's work are redirected to programs which benefit the community.
"With our expert, nationwide teams - comprising police, financial investigators, forensic accountants, litigation lawyers and partner agency specialists - we will continue to relentlessly pursue and seize the assets of those who try to operate outside the law."
The AFP-led CACT investigation brings together the resources and expertise of the AFP, ABF, Australian Taxation Office, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and AUSTRAC. These agencies trace, restrain and pursue the confiscation of criminal assets, which are then realised by the Official Trustee, through AFSA after confiscation.
The Commonwealth's proceeds of crime laws provide extensive tools for the restraint of both proceeds and instruments of crime, as well as financial penalty and unexplained wealth orders, based on a civil standard of proof.
The CACT operates separately to any criminal prosecution and can also operate when there is no related criminal investigation or prosecution.
Since July 2019, CACT has restrained more than $1.2 billion in criminal assets, including houses, cars, fine art and luxury yachts.
