Marika recalled the day her new employee told her his mother had died of cancer.
“He takes a phone call, puts it down and walks over to me, his face white,” she said.
“With tears dropping down his face, he tells me his mother is gone.”
Sympathy from colleagues poured towards David Prince-Popovich. But it was undeserved – his osteopath mother was, in fact, alive and well.
Marika worked with serial fraudster David Prince-Popovich at Sell and Parker.Credit: Rhett Wyman
According to six people who shared their stories with this masthead and court documents and recordings spanning several years, this was just one layer of the captivating but manipulative fraudster’s intricate web of lies.
He is now on the run for further fraud offences in Queensland after the life of deception he’d been mastering since childhood culminated in a stint in jail for scamming an ex-partner out of $130,000. The 24-year-old is also accused of paying a fake deposit on a house and has been convicted of fraudulently hiring a private jet and party boat worth tens of thousands of dollars.
‘A very likeable bloke’ with unexplained wealth
Charming, fun, funny and smart.
That’s how Marika described Prince-Popovich, who also goes by the name David Matahi, when he applied for an administration role with recycling company Sell and Parker.
“He was a very likeable bloke,” she said.
Marika and colleagues gave Prince-Popovich a $250 bouquet of flowers when he pretended his mum had died.Credit:
He spoke about a townhouse he owned in Homebush, took a call from his “accountant” about his large trust fund, and said he was late because his Tesla – which was later found to be borrowed – had been almost out of charge.
“I thought, ‘What kid at his age has all this?’” said Marika, who did not want her last name published due to privacy reasons linked to her employment.
“But he was also really great and funny. I laughed so much during the months we worked together.”
The couple bonded over both being adopted, and she felt deep sympathy over his mother’s terminal illness. When he said she died, the company bought him a $250 bouquet of flowers, and Marika spent hours consoling him.
But their growing bond abruptly ended. After working with her for six months, Prince-Popovich suddenly stopped turning up or responding to calls.
Marika was devastated.
Prince-Popovich (right) flew all around the country, living an extravagant lifestyle that was funded by deceiving those he met along the way.Credit:
Then, she suddenly received a call from Navair Jet services, chasing $30,000 for a return private charter flight Prince-Popovich had hired from Bankstown in Sydney’s south-west to the coastal town of Ballina.
“I knew all about his trip with the boys,” Marika said.
“They would be eating, playing polo with his rich friends, and they all take turns to pay the charter flights every time they go. It had nothing to do with work.”
The caller explained that Prince-Popovich had booked flights on behalf of Sell and Parker’s director, Morgan Parker, purporting to be his personal assistant.
Marika explained that he, in fact, worked as her junior assistant.
A police investigation found Prince-Popovich sent three legitimate transactions to Navair, but they totalled $12 – when the bank receipts he sent the company were falsified to show he had sent $28,000.
Prince-Popovich posted of his life of luxury on social media.Credit:
It turned out Prince-Popovich had befriended a worker at the Vibe Hotel in Darling Harbour, boasted about his large inheritance and offered to take a group of friends on the trip of a lifetime. Five people transferred him hundreds of dollars for food and accommodation.
Lies continued to unravel. Another company soon contacted Marika to chase money owed for a helicopter trip he took to a vineyard.
Prince-Popovich also told Marika he had a pilot’s licence – it was even on his résumé. But a social media photo of him purporting to fly a plane appeared to be taken in the cockpit of a Sydney flight simulator.
The penny had dropped.
“I realised he’s not who he says he is,” Marika said.
“But he never did anything wrong by me apart from lie.”
Former friends said Prince-Popovich lied about having a commercial pilot’s licence. Credit: Instagram
Others fared worse.
Prince-Popovich pleaded not guilty to seven fraud-related charges over the private jet fraud and was a no-show in court when convicted. He was sentenced to a 12-month intensive correction order.
He was also sentenced to an 18-month community correction order after pleading guilty over a fraudulent, ritzy cruise with friends on Sydney Harbour.
Prince-Popovich pretended to pay $5000 to boat rental service AnyBoat on the lower north shore for a “work party” for company Direct Couriers after convincing a friend to put down a $2000 bond.
When the money never arrived, he assured AnyBoat that his chief financial officer would investigate. But Direct Couriers told AnyBoat the party was not authorised, and Prince-Popovich had “gone rogue”.
The scammer sent police a fake remittance advice of $5000 and was later extradited from Tasmania to NSW to face court.
A $130,000 fraud and a stint in jail
As Prince-Popovich’s trail of unpaid debt and broken hearts grew, his ex-partner Ben Madden suffered both.
One day, he told Madden he desperately needed $130,000 to fund unfair legal fights.
Court documents show he again claimed to have a substantial trust fund in France.
After all, his luxury lifestyle was peppered with holidays in the Whitsundays, Louis Vuitton accessories and $600 dinners.
Hearing the various legal battles Prince-Popovich faced with his ex-partner Aiden Loy, including apparently fighting to have a house Loy bought with Prince-Popovich’s money transferred into his name, Madden sent him a total of $131,500, the NSW District Court heard.
Loy denies this and is not accused of defrauding Prince-Popovich.
Prince-Popovich showed Madden a false document outlining a bank account balance of more than $500,000 linked to the trust fund but said he could only access the fund in regular allowances.
In a text exchange tendered to the court, Prince-Popovich showed Madden “proof” of this bank balance to prove he could repay him.
Madden told the court they agreed to have lawyers draw up a loan contract. When Madden said lending the money was OK, Prince-Popovich replied: “I hope so xxx. I wanna make sure I look after you since you’re looking after me… you mean so much to me.”
Prince-Popovich was charged and convicted of using a false document to obtain financial advantage. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison with a non-parole period of two months and was released in November 2022. He was also ordered to pay Madden back $100,000.
A fake house deposit and an airport confrontation
Tasmanian real estate agent Jarrah Burns met Prince-Popovich two years ago when he and another man inspected a near-new four-bedroom, two-bathroom home in south Launceston.
Burns said Prince-Popovich made an unconditional offer on the $860,000 property.
“He was a bit younger but very confident,” he said.
“I did the usual checks, had a bit of an Instagram stalk and whatnot, and he certainly paraded that he had the lifestyle [that could afford the house].”
Burns said Prince-Popovich sent him “a bank receipt” of the house deposit, but the money never came through.
Alarm bells began ringing.
“I feel like my bullshit detector is pretty good, and I’ve been doing this for 13 years,” Burns said.
“But at times, he had me fooled, as he can just talk and make up elaborate excuses and reasons and ways to manipulate.”
The Herald has seen texts showing Burns congratulated Prince-Popovich for the sale on February 18, 2023 and sent deposit details.
Ten days later, Burns told him the money had not hit his account.
“Very strange, on hold to Macquarie now. Will call once I get off the phone,” Prince-Popovich wrote.
Over several weeks, Prince-Popovich made up various excuses for the missing money, including transfer delays and it being declared a suspicious transaction due to his car purchase in the same week.
When Burns tried to call, Prince-Popovich said he was on the road, away for work or stuck in meetings.
On March 7, days before settlement, Burns asked for an initial payment of $10,000. Prince-Popovich said he would bring the money into the office but never got there due to “pressing issues” at his job with “the federal government”.
“I have done everything … however, I do have a full-time government job which requires me to be on call at all hours of the day and night,” he wrote.
Eventually, and after much headache for the owner, the sale was cancelled.
Three months later, Burns ran into a suit-wearing Prince-Popovich at Melbourne Airport, who appeared to be on some sort of business trip.
He went to warn the person he was with about Prince-Popovich’s history, but he ran off.
Prince-Popovich’s alleged fake transaction receipt for the deposit on the Launceston home.
A fraudster on the run
Prince-Popovich remains wanted by Queensland authorities.
Since 2021, the state’s courts have been chasing him over four fraud-related charges that he has not pleaded over.
A warrant was issued for his arrest in Coolangatta Magistrates Court in April 2024 after he failed to appear several times.
“Last time we attempted to find him unsuccessfully,” a magistrate is heard saying in a court audio recording obtained by this masthead.
Prince-Popovich appeared to have limitless talents and knowledge to those he crossed paths with.Credit:
“Apparently, he said he has leukaemia and is getting treatment.”
She said the court sent him a notice of adjournment, and he had not responded, so she forfeited his bail and ordered a warrant for his arrest.
Prince-Popovich’s legal woes in Queensland have taken him full circle. His first dealings with the justice system began in Toowoomba at age 18.
A separate court audio recording revealed he was fined $400 without conviction for scamming the Burke And Wills Hotel out of $712 worth of accommodation, food and beverages in 2018.
He purported to book the hotel through his then-employer, Qantas, before fleeing the hotel and being arrested on a warrant.
“Guilty, your honour,” Prince-Popovich is heard saying.
As he travelled between Tasmania, Queensland and NSW over the following years – his “wealthy” appearance masking a turbulent life marked by fleeting accommodation and jobs – social media pages dedicated to “exposing” him popped up sporadically.
“David is not a commercial pilot. David does not own a Tesla. David does not have a trust,” one now-deleted Instagram account posted.
When a friend saw the page and messaged him, Prince-Popovich asked them to report it, adding: “That’s so weird … I don’t ask anyone for money.”
Despite being wanted by authorities in Queensland, a seemingly happy Prince-Popovich has continued to post photos to his 9000 Instagram followers.Credit: Instagram
Being wanted in Queensland has not stopped him posting photos to his 9000 Instagram followers, including images smiling with friends in Hobart and posing wine-in-hand at the National Party of Australia’s federal council at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra last September.
“CEO of bad decisions,” his Instagram bio reads.
Former friends and lovers described him as brilliant, with unusually in-depth knowledge about endless topics. But he was deceptive, taking out loans in their name, using cards without permission, and falsely promising to repay them for various adventures.
However, one ex-boyfriend said he did repay him several thousand dollars and believed he had the capacity to care about people.
Two people said he loved the movie Catch Me If You Can, where Leonardo DiCaprio poses as a skilled forger who passes as a doctor, lawyer and pilot.
One man who almost hired Prince-Popovich said he was full of empty promises, appearing to have friends in high places and cross-industry connections.
Adoptive mother says problems began in childhood
At six months old, Prince-Popovich was in a car crash in France that killed his birth mother. He was adopted by his aunt, Karen Prince-Popovich, who said the accident caused brain trauma.
The family moved to Australia when he was young.
Karen, who was at first hesitant to comment due to a strained relationship that had only recently improved, believes Prince-Popovich has an undiagnosed antisocial personality disorder, specifically narcissistic sociopathy.
Prince-Popovich’s lying, stealing and emotional instability began early, his adoptive mother said.Credit:
His lying, stealing, anger and emotional instability began early, she says. Despite many medical consultations, his diagnoses included pervasive developmental disorder and acute stress disorder, but did not address what she saw as signs of ASPD, which cannot be diagnosed in children.
The mother and son cut contact due to his behaviour but recently reconnected after he claimed to have leukaemia.
“He’s lovely, charismatic and intelligent,” she said.
“He has a conscience but lacks empathy for victims.”
She is often contacted by his victims. While sympathising, she hopes his apparent ill health will be a “wake-up call”.
“I love him, so I have to forgive and try and support [him],” she said.
“But I also believe that he needs to change. Of course, I want him to be a better person.”
In a statement, David Prince-Popovich said he fully acknowledged and took full responsibility for his past mistakes, including dishonesty and narcissistic behaviour, but said those actions were behind him.
“I have made significant personal progress since then and moved forward with my life.”
Prince-Popovich declined to comment on current legal proceedings.
Prince-Popovich said “no fraud had occurred” regarding the South Launceston house or helicopter trip to a vineyard.
He denied some of the other allegations, asserting that they “stem from unreliable sources”.
Prince-Popovich said he was “undergoing medical advice for cancer” and was focused on his health and recovery.
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