The 58-year-old businessman Kenneth Charles Grace, in Sydney, was found dead in a motel room on Thursday night.

Grace was found dead on the day he was due to be sentenced for shell business fraud. He was due to be sentenced at Downing Center District Court on the same day after pleading guilty to six counts of dishonest conduct in relation to his investment fund, Goldsky, in April 2023.

Grace defrauded investors, including Olympians Sam Riley and Robbie McEwen, out of about $24 million after claiming he could make them back as much as 20 percent. When he failed to appear in court, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

“Officers from Surry Hills District Police Command were called to a hotel in Foveaux Street at approximately 1.15pm last Thursday (January 18, 2024) after a man was found dead in his room.

“A report will be prepared to inform the coroner after the body of a 58-year-old man was found in a CBD motel last week,” a NSW Police spokesman said.

Grace’s business was liquidated in 2018, with his wrongful dealings being examined in the Federal Court and the Queensland Supreme Court.

He was accused of using money from investors to charter a private jet for his stepdaughter so she could fly to Sydney from Queensland to have plastic surgery on her breasts.

He even rented a luxury house on Sydney Harbor with his own motorboat “to relax” in the months before his fund collapsed.

His other victims were former Australian rules footballers Clark Keating who invested $100,000 and Simon Black who invested $80,000.