Nasser is a former criminal defence lawyer who once had an array of Sydney underworld figures as clients. These included bikie boss Hassan Kalache, drug importer Michael Ibrahim, the brother of Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim, and gang leader Bassam Hamzy.
In November, the Financial Review, the Herald and the Age reported that White’s private company was bankrolling a major property development in Sydney’s west, which had been recommended by Merhi. Merhi previously owned one of the properties and sold it to an associate.
In September 2020, as Merhi’s company was collapsing, he agreed to sell the industrial site to Ahmad Ahmad, who runs a coffee and nut roasting business in Lakemba, at a price so low that liquidators would later tell creditors the sale may have been an “uncommercial transaction”.
Three years later, White lent millions of dollars to Ahmad to develop the site and other property, according to land title documents.
White said in November: “Mark Merhi … introduced the refinancing deal to me … I am aware that Mark Merhi knows Ahmad. It was through that introduction that the refinancing arrangement … was organised.”
White’s personal life was thrust into the spotlight last year after he sued a former love, Sydney wellness entrepreneur Linda Rogan, over a $90,000 bill for furniture that was to have been for a Vaucluse mansion he purchased for her. That lawsuit led to several revelations about how White had used his fortune and influence as a businessman in his personal life.
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White subsequently resigned as WiseTech’s chief executive after he was accused of bullying, allegations he denied. An investigation by Seyfarth Shaw, which was engaged by WiseTech, found “there has not been repeated unreasonable behaviour, or behaviour that could be characterised as ‘bullying’ or ‘intimidatory’ or otherwise unlawful”.
But it concluded that White had a “direct approach” which was “consistent with the process of ‘creative abrasion’” at the company.
He has since been appointed to a new role titled founding chief executive which keeps him on his previous $1 million salary.
