He was part of the largest Ponzi scheme in Australian history which was associated with budget internet company Froggy, fronted by Suleman and funded with the help of $300 million raised from 20,000 investors.
[1] Born in Iraq on 16 April 1961 to an Assyrian family, Suleman, was only two years old when his father Emanuel, an air force captain, died in a plane crash.
Suleman enterprises were placed into voluntary administration on 12 November 2001, soon after ASIC commenced proceedings before the Supreme Court of New South Wales to close down an unregistered managed investment scheme operated by the company.
Suleman and his wife Vivienne bought properties, luxury cars, boats, and planes, sponsored charity events, and gave lavish gifts as well as dinners for former United States presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton.
Documents filed with the court by the ASIC showed that investors, mostly from Sydney's Assyrian community, were induced to put between $50,000 and $150,000 into the trolley business on the promise that they would receive fortnightly returns of between $4000 and $25,000.
The company's liquidators said in their report that between July 2000 and November 2001 the business made a net profit of $275,096 but was paying out $2 million a week to investors seeking high returns.