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Concerns bikies looking for missing ‘property tycoon’ Ricky Hirsch as Fulfil The Dream business fails

Globetrotting Ricky Hirsch has gone silent as his property empire crumbles to dust, with millions of dollars owing to investors and lenders who cannot get hold of him. The Walter Mitty of property development has been urged to return to Perth from his overseas boltholes to explain where all the money has gone. Even his father, Larry Hirsch, revealed to The Sunday Times this week he didn’t know where in the world his son was at present. Mr Hirsch Snr said he understood it was a heartbreaking situation for investors. “It’s a horrible time,” he said. “(But) I’m going to tell you my wife and I love my son like crazy.” There is concern that bikies are also looking for the 37-year-old and are among those nursing financial losses from Mr Hirsch’s imploding Fulfil The Dream business. As previously revealed by The Sunday Times, Mr Hirsch promoted himself as a real estate visionary and property tycoon, with all the trappings of wealth, along with a glamorous Russian model wife, to paint the picture of success. He boasted he had New York and Miami in sights for expansion. For the past year Dubai has been his home and jumping-off base for luxury holidays in the Maldives, Greek Islands, Florida, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Macau, US, Thailand and frequent trips to Bali, where he married Lilya, a former Aeroflot flight attendant, in 2022. The images of success, though, have been a mirage. Investors claim they’ve been scammed and believe Mr Hirsch has been living it large with their life savings and superannuation funds they entrusted him with. Some took out expensive loans they’re still paying back. This newspaper can today reveal that seven of his development sites in WA have been repossessed by mortgagees after he defaulted on repayments. The same fate has befallen another site on the Gold Coast that he bought for $2.65 million just 12 months ago, with plans for a nine-story apartment complex. Repossession notices were attached to the site’s perimeter fence last week. Investors in the property developments — many of which never got off the ground — received no notification from Mr Hirsch that he no longer owned them. In some cases, it has been left to the newspaper to give them the bad news. Three development sites in Perth, where building work had occurred, the quality of workmanship and materials have been so poor — and dangerous — that what’s built needs to be torn down. Mr Hirsch has abandoned a legal appeal against a demolition order issued by the Town of Bassendean on his Scaddan Street eight-unit development. A hearing scheduled for Friday in the State Administrative Tribunal was vacated. With the site among those repossessed, demolishing the apartments now rests with the mortgagee. Two development sites in Westminster are also facing a date with a bulldozer. Freedom of Information documents released by the City of Stirling revealed almost three years of correspondence between building compliance officials and Mr Hirsch, citing a litany of defects and hazards at the Amberley Way and Gretham Road locations. In November 2022, the city expressed concern “that if the building works are allowed to progress without rectification works there would be a real and substantial risk to both the inhabitants and any neighbouring properties”. “Please be advised that due to the severity of the faults and defects, the city is now considering to serve a Building Order on both properties at Gretham Road and Amberley Way. The Building Order would place a ‘Stop Work Notice’ on both builds until such time as all noncompliance issues have been rectified.” Among the many concerns were missing footings and steel work imported from China. In May last year, Mr Hirsch was hit with an order from the City of Stirling to cease all work on the two sites after officers found out works had continued after the company’s building permit had expired two months earlier. Three months ago, the city wrote to Mr Hirsch stating that it understood his own appointed building surveyor had recommended demolition of the buildings at both locations “given the significant concerns related to Building Code of Australia compliance, workmanship standards, and occupational health and safety matters”. Mr Hirsch responded by engaging a new building surveyor. At one point, the apartments were advertised for sale. In February, the city re-stated its concerns about “the quality of work, the materials used, and overall compliance with the building permit”. The city told The Sunday Times on Friday that it was aware that both properties were now under the control of mortgagees. “We have observed the notices on both properties and we have written to the lawyers who are referenced on the respective notices as we seek further information,” a spokesperson said. Mr Hirsch currently has three undeveloped properties in the Balga area that are up for sale. Building work had been started and abandoned at one location visited by the newspaper this week and one of the other vacant properties had no rear door and had been vandalised. Both were strewn with rubbish. The City of Stirling said it would investigate. “We will take the necessary action to ensure that each property is safe and secure,” a spokesperson said. Fulfil the Dream investors in a Scarborough development recently found out their site was no longer owned by Mr Hirsch when a For Sale sign went up outside the vacant 1012m2 block. Investors’ dreams of two towers in Rockingham with 62 apartments and a value on completion of $33.8 million have also gone unfulfilled. Despite having a caveat on the titles of the adjacent sites formerly owned by Fulfil The Dream, an investor was unable to stop the land on Council Avenue being sold by a mortgagee, who’d gained possession, to a new purchaser. The couple, who invested $700,000 in the project, ultimately decided against throwing good money after bad, by fighting the sale in the Supreme Court. Property settlement occurred this week and the new owner has applied to build a gym and a shop there. Some of the private lenders are also trying to get hold of Mr Hirsch following the disintegration of his property portfolio, which was mortgaged to the hilt. The mortgages on the eight-apartment Bassendean site, for example, exceed $2 million and then there’s all the money that joint-venture investors tipped in on the promise of lucrative returns. With the structures to be demolished, the site is only worth what the land will fetch. One lender in Victoria loaned Mr Hirsch almost $4 million just five months ago. His loans were connected to four properties, three of which have been repossessed by the first mortgagee for each. He has been trying to get hold of Mr Hirsch. “No one’s taking phone calls,” he said. “I’ve had lawyers in Melbourne, trying to contact any of his companies or anybody that’s operational. I’ve got (Mr Hirsch’s) personal phone numbers. I’ve got his email addresses. He has not replied to anybody.” He said he’d been sold a “whole load of bulls..t” about Mr Hirsch by Fulfil The Dream representatives at its Melbourne office, before it closed in January. “I had it rammed down my throat how successful he is and how he’s worth millions and millions.” Fulfil The Dream also operated in Sydney for about four months from June last year. It was locked out of the Bella Vista office by the landlord in late November for rent arrears. Mr Hirsch had signed a one-year lease on the property and the agent was now $25,000 out of pocket. As previously reported, Mr Hirsch has a stack of debts in Perth, including unpaid land tax and water bills, as well as unpaid speeding fines and infringements totalling $9555.25. Last September Mr Hirsch told The Sunday Times his businesses had no money worries. He also denied scamming anyone. “We’re doing very well. We’re very strong and healthy,” he said. To counter the negative press in his hometown he’s placed advertising features in several online publications. He promotes himself as a pioneer in modular construction. “What we’ve achieved in Australia with modular construction so far is a stepping stone to the next unique level of design,” he said in one puff piece. “Ricky Hirsch’s journey in real estate is a testament to the power of vision, innovation, and resilience. His impact on the industry goes beyond the physical structures he has built; it’s about the new standards he has set and the future he envisions for urban development,” another gushing piece stated. “His story remains a source of inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs and a blueprint for success in the challenging world of real estate.” For financially crippled investors, some of whom signed up as far back as 2016 and haven’t seen a cent in returns, the misleading write-ups are intended to dupe new victims. At the end of January, Mr Hirsch put the construction arm of his business, FTD Construction Pty Ltd, into liquidation. It came four months after WA’s building regulator rejected Mr Hirsch’s bid to renew the company’s builder’s registration, citing concerns about its finances and “proficient management”. The liquidator has reported the company owed creditors an estimated $8.88 million. Mr Hirsch was its sole debtor, owing his company $3.26 million, which he’d borrowed. All the repossessed and condemned sites were still being promoted on the Fulfil The Dream website this week. It falsely boasted “pipelined projects” were worth $448 million. Mr Hirsch migrated to Australia from South Africa with his family in 1993, when he was seven years old. His father, Larry, is the CEO of Charter Mortgage and Finance and a past president of the Rotary Club of Perth. He’s also involved in the film industry and was the co-executive producer of the 2019 sci-fi thriller I Am Mother starring Oscar winning actress Hillary Swank. Mr Hirsch Snr on Friday said he had absolutely nothing to do with Fulfil The Dream. ”We clearly operate in different ways so I really can’t comment on any of Ricky’s business dealings,” he said. “I don’t help him strategically or business wise, or governance or whatever.” Ricky Hirsch was contacted for comment.

The West Australian exclusiveConcerns bikies looking for missing ‘property tycoon’ Ricky Hirsch as Fulfil The Dream business fails

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Concerns bikies looking for missing ‘property tycoon’ Ricky Hirsch as Fulfil The Dream business fails