Michael Featherstone one of six people, including his wife and son, charged after 20-month investigation into alleged investment scams on the Gold Coast

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A former Queensland detective is accused of laundering $15m derived from alleged “boiler room” investment scams on the Gold Coast.

Michael Featherstone, a one-time drug squad detective turned private investigator, was one of six people, including his wife and son, who were charged on Tuesday after a 20-month investigation by the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) and Queensland police.

Guardian Australia understands investigators will allege that Featherstone laundered the money between 2010 and 2013 while providing “risk management” services and dealing with customer complaints against companies running cold-call investment frauds.

Featherstone was separately charged in December 2014, along with Palmer adviser Andrew Crook and former AFL player Tony Smith, over an alleged plot to intimidate a banker into changing his evidence in a multimillion dollar court case to benefit Smith.

The trio, who allegedly plotted to induce a banker with a bogus job offer to work for Palmer, have been charged with intimidating a witness, attempting to pervert the course of justice and attempted fraud.



Featherstone and and his wife Zoei Keong’s Upper Coomera home was raided on Tuesday for the third time since he came under investigation for alleged involvement with investment scams in 2014.

He was expected to be charged with money laundering and aggravated fraud after being taken into custody at the Brisbane watchhouse.

Keong, 32, who was charged in April last year with money laundering and fraud as part of the same investigation, was also arrested and expected to face further charges of money laundering and aggravated fraud.

It is understood investigators will claim Featherstone’s involvement in money laundering stems not from an active role in managing the “boiler room” syndicates but by providing advice on how to deal with online customer complaints.

Featherstone also allegedly directly dealt with disgruntled customers in an attempt to resolve complaints before they resulted in legal claims in the Queensland civil and administrative tribunal.

The investigation is one of a growing number of major probes into alleged “boiler room” scams on the Gold Coast, which has become the renewed focus of attention for the CCC in the last two years.

Kathleen Florian, the executive director of the CCC’s crime division, said the investigation “focused on those people who facilitated the frauds and ultimately their alleged role in these organised syndicates has led to serious criminal charges being brought against them”.

“It will be alleged that some of those facing charges were directors or senior employees of a private investigation firm and were involved in perpetrating frauds against members of the community via a number of different companies and schemes over an extended period of time,” she said.

“Considering these alleged offences occurred some years prior to the establishment of the taskforce, there was a substantial amount of financial analysis required during this investigation and the CCC’s expertise in this area has been critical in gathering evidence to put before the court.”

Supt Mick Niland, commander of the police Taskforce Maxima, said the alleged crimes had “enormous impact on many of the victims”.

“We will continue to target the facilitators of organised crime who enable these crimes to flourish,” he said. “Queensland police service capability to tackle organised crime is enhanced through these ongoing strong partnerships with the Crime and Corruption Commission and Australian Taxation Office and national law enforcement agencies”.

Keong was allegedly involved in defrauding investors of more than $700,000 while working for Featherstone’s Gold Coast private investigation business in 2011.

The CCC has alleged she and co-worker Travis Burch committed the offences as part of the financial management of a company called Tropical Point between February and June 2011.

A Pimpama man, 21, a Helensvale man, 36, a Robina man, 32, and an Upper Coomera woman, 39, were also expected to b charged with aggravated fraud after being taken into custody on Tuesday.