However, this week the Australian porn king saw everything in his Brisbane mansion put on the auction block, bringing to a close a short-lived but incredibly successful $100 million empire.
Hundreds crowded the Brisbane’s RNA Showgrounds this week to buy everything from Persian carpets to a Salvador Dali lithograph. Lead auctioneer Peter du Plessis told local papers it was the biggest estate sale to take place in the city in 16 years, with estimates from the sale exceeding the previous $10 million record.
Plessis said the highest price paid for a single item was $215,000 for a Rupert Bunny painting.
"I can't believe this," Plessis told the Courier-Mail newspaper, lamenting that a number of items sold for well below their market value.
Lasrado has seen his financial glory wither since 2000, beginning with a number of highly publicized disputes over his adult online services. Excessive overages and undisclosed subscription fees plagued his more than 50 companies, which included GDL Investments, Net Billing and Insanemedia. Several banks began to refuse to process credit card payments for his companies and increased their fees for dispute resolution, draining Lasrado’s accounts of millions of dollars in just a few months.
Lasrado exited the online adult business shortly after the credit card disputes surfaced, but apparently continued to live his lavish lifestyle, buying several vacation properties throughout Australia and becoming a regular at several upscale casinos.
But money troubles continued to surface, including an unpaid multimillion-dollar loan dispute and accusations of tax evasion. By 2004 Lasrado had sold many of his assets, including millions of dollars worth of property.
At the same time, several incidents raised speculation by local law enforcement that Lasrado was in serious financial trouble. Besides bouncing several checks, Lasrado’s home office caught fire under mysterious circumstances, and he was later found asleep in his Lamborghini with several hundred thousand dollars in the trunk.
Lasrado has tried to avoid the spotlight in recent months, but was brought back into the public forum in May when the local tax board initiated proceedings in the Queensland Supreme Court for the recovery of $331,472.
An official statement by Jim Conomos, his tax attorney, said the recent auction was “voluntary.”
