Nicole Perrin lists Surfers Paradise mansion four months after winning bank fraud case: Title Tattle
The Cronin Island, Surfers Paradise mansion of Nicole Bricknell, the ex-wife of bankrupted Billabong founder Matthew Perrin, has been listed for January 28 auction.
The seven-bedroom property with 10-car garaging will be auctioned following a 27-month absence of south-east Queensland houses fetching more than $10 million.
The marketing decision to put it to auction appears to have been made during the Christmas period, as the vast living room has been photographed with Christmas decorations.
Other photographs show some 30 crates, mostly unopened, of Penfolds Grange in the wine cellar.
The Southern Cross Drive house with a lift between its basement and rooftop has previously been valued at $15 million.
Nicole Bricknell, who has reverted to her maiden name, the daughter of one of the country's top bookmakers, Laurie Bricknell, won her battle last September against the Commonwealth Bank, which was seeking to repossess her family home, which sits on a 2,218-square-metre block that cost $1.45 million in 1999.
The Queensland Supreme Court found the former Billabong chief repeatedly forged the signature of his wife to secure a $13.5 million loan from the Commonwealth Bank.
The ruling meant the Commonwealth Bank could not enforce its mortgage over the couple's Gold Coast riverfront mansion or enforce personal guarantees against Perrin's wife.
The lawyers for Bricknell returned to the courtroom last month to seek to determine the amount of costs to be paid.
After a trial spanning two weeks, Walter Sofronoff, QC applied for additional costs on the ground that the matter should never have gone to trial.
Kylie Downes, SC for the bank, said the bank had every right to test the veracity of the fraud allegations in court.
“Nicole trusted me with all financial matters and I have destroyed that faith and trust,'' Matthew Perrin confessed in a private gesture to his family.
“No one could comprehend what I have done to her – taken her husband, faith, trust, house, family and financial security to hell without her having any idea,” he wrote in a confession, handed for safe keeping to his then father-in-law, which made its way into the court documentation.
Michael Willems of Ray White Prestige Gold Coast Surfers Paradise has the listing. January is the key auction month on the Gold Coast, with millions of dollars’ worth of property to be sold at seven mega auctions over a four-week period.
The biggest is Ray White Surfers Paradise Group's annual two-day showcase The Event, to be held January 28-29.
It has 130-plus prestige, marine and commercial properties.
Ray White chief executive Andrew Bell says he expects strong buyer activity on the back of the two interest rate cuts at the end of last year and the 2018 Commonwealth Games announcement.
Bell says some sellers have waited six months or more to sell their properties, at his auction and he is hopeful of a good clearance rate.
