Jailed fraudster and former assistant tax commissioner Nick Petroulias and kebab shop owner Hussein Faraj are now facing serious fraud allegations tied to their Australian crypto company, NuGenesis, according to investigative journalist, Kate McClymont who has reported for Nine Entertainment papers Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
NSW’s Cybercrime Squad told Nine Entertainment papers they are “aware” of the company, which was co-founded by a businessman with a past bribery conviction.
“We are unable to comment on ongoing investigations,” a police spokesperson said.
The allegations involve vanished investor funds and use of Hezbollah-linked bank accounts. Faraj denies wrongdoing, blaming his estranged brother, with whom he’s in a legal feud.
Faraj, a 40-year-old bankrupt and operator of Chicken Licious in Rockdale, lists himself on Facebook as NuGenesis CEO and president of the United Shia Islamic Foundation. The company, launched in August 2021, promotes itself as an AI-powered blockchain platform. Its token, NuCoin, launched that November.
“We have been left holding a bag of worthless tokens,” said one investor. Another, who put in $100,000, received a threatening call from Faraj in January: “Just wait. I told you I am coming after you, you piece of shit …. one by one I am going to wipe youse out.”
Faraj has claimed he was instrumental in taking down FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried, boasting, “I was the reason why that whole crime that was in America got taken down,” and alleging he rejected a $US40 million bribe to stay quiet about a “crypto counterfeiting racket.”
Employees in Lebanon say they were promised “a platinum card of 1,000,000 coins” but never paid. Faraj’s brother, Hassan, has publicly branded NuGenesis a scam, sharing images of Faraj’s luxury car and Rockdale home, accusing him of funding his lifestyle with investor money. Faraj dismissed the claims: “One day he will wake from whatever it is he is going through.”
This masthead has uncovered documents suggesting Petroulias and Faraj used false information to set up front companies to attract investors. One investor received a contract naming Techno Group Enterprises as the NuGenesis agent—linked to Petroulias and his longtime partner, lawyer Despina Bakis.
Ex-NRL commissioner Jim Hall, listed as Techno’s shareholder, denied any involvement. One of the listed directors is Petroulias’ brother, who has a criminal record. Techno’s current director, Gregory Vaughan, has previously admitted to being a dummy for Petroulias. He once said at a corruption inquiry, “Am I? I’m not aware of that.”
Vaughan claimed to be NuCoin’s CEO online in 2024, although this role doesn’t appear on his LinkedIn.
“They’re using different names so people don’t know who they are,” said Hassan Faraj.
Petroulias, the company’s legal strategist under the alias “Nicholas Peterson,” was jailed in 2008 for leaking confidential tax office info. He later bankrupted himself with $104 million in debts but continued setting up companies overseas under aliases like “Nicholas James Piers” and “Michael Felson.”
In 2022, ICAC found Petroulias, Bakis and two others guilty of serious corruption involving Aboriginal land deals in Newcastle. Petroulias received over $1 million from the scheme.
Though Faraj wasn’t charged, he appeared at the inquiry alongside Petroulias. Criminal charges have since been recommended against Petroulias, Bakis, and others.
At ICAC in 2018, Petroulias appeared via video from jail in prison greens. Police had found counterfeit notes in his BMW, and he produced a New Zealand driver’s licence under a false name. Bakis was also found to be using fake identities, including a European passport in the name “Daphne Regina Diomedes.”
“Mr Petroulias goes overseas with a photo of me and gets a passport. It’s not terribly hard,” Bakis said. ICAC found she lacked “any semblance of credibility.”
Petroulias was later jailed for counterfeit offences and convicted under various names for corruption, fraud, and breaching court orders. Despite his criminal history, he claimed to be NuGenesis’s “legal counsel.”
Asked about fellow NuGenesis executive Muzammil Abbas, Faraj replied, “I don’t know who you are talking about.” But Abbas is actually Mozammil “Mozu” Bhojani, previously jailed for bribing Nauruan officials. His firm, Radiance International, still secured offshore contracts from the Australian government while under investigation.
NuGenesis’s Estonian parent company is co-owned by Faraj, his wife, and members of Bhojani’s family. Bank records show Radiance transferred nearly $700,000 to Faraj’s account in late 2021.
Petroulias confirmed Bhojani’s role and said he helped fund NuGenesis with $30 million from “family and friends.”
