Morning Briefing: Major bank's staff embroiled in $76m fraud

Staff of a major bank were allegedly complicit in a $76 million... Yearly surge in million dollar suburbs...

Major bank's staff tangled in $76m fraud
Police have been alerted of a $76 million Ponzi scheme with involvment of Commonwealth Bank staff who allegedly received secret commissions for their role in the suspected fraud, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The scheme is believed to have been ignored by the bank's management for almost five years.

The 'alleged architects' of the scam, professional poker player Bill Jordanou and accountant Robert Zaia, will face court in February 2017 and have indicated they will plead not guilty to almost 100 fraud and deception offences.

Jordanou and Zaia are accused of using forged documents to borrow millions of dollars for several property developments that never got off the ground.

A CBA spokeswoman refused to comment to the newspaper while the matter was before court.

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Yearly surge in million dollar suburbs
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Australia is now home to more than 500 suburbs boasting a median dwelling price of $1 million or above.

Analysis from CoreLogic RP Data has revealed market performance in 2015 resulted in significant jump in the number of suburbs in Australia’s million dollar club.

December 2015 ended with 530 suburbs laying claim to a seven-figure median, a 31% increase on the 406 that did so in December 2014.

Of those 530 suburbs, the vast majority are in the million dollar club on the back of their houses prices with the median price for a house $1 million or more in 504 suburbs.

The distribution of million dollar suburbs is far from equal across the country as well.

New South Wales is home to 366 of the 530 suburbs, with house prices accounting for 341 of those.

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