The son of a prominent former Liberal politician has escaped jail after admitting running a lucrative dark web drug business under the name ‘AusCokeKing’.
Mark Chikarovski, son of the first female leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party, Kerry Chikarovski, walked free from Sydney’s Downing Center District Court on Friday.
The court heard how he used drug money to buy an eight-figure luxury property in an exclusive enclave just four days before he was caught selling drugs to undercover cops.
He was arrested in May 2023 and eventually pleaded guilty to a series of drug charges involving the supply of drugs online in exchange for cryptocurrency, but he will not spend another day in jail after being sentenced to house arrest.
When officers first arrested him at an apartment complex in Bondi Junction, in Sydney’s east, they found large quantities of cocaine, MDMA and methamphetamine, as well as $269,000 in cryptocurrency.
Chikarovski was caught wearing gloves and packaging cocaine and MDMA into ready-to-ship envelopes when officers attacked.
He had bought an $11.5 million property in Vaucluse in February 2023, just days before unknowingly selling drugs to an undercover police officer in a sale that would lead to the raid, and two weeks later he would sell another in Bellevue Hill for 12.5 million dollars.
Judge Jane Culver said she allowed him to serve a correctional order rather than a prison sentence as he had demonstrated a commitment to rehabilitation, was previously of good character, had knowledge of his own crimes and suffered mental health impacts during the time he was already in prison.
Judge Jane Culver said she believes the “heartache” Chikarovski has caused his family will prevent him from reoffending (pictured, Chikarovski and his mother).
Mark Chikarovski, son of former NSW Liberal Party leader Kerry Chikarovski, has been sentenced to home detention after pleading guilty to a string of drug offences.
Chikarovski claimed he sold the substances to pay off debts he incurred to finance his own drug habit.
But prosecutors said that was inconsistent with his lavish lifestyle, which involved buying multimillion-dollar properties, splurging on two Porsches and sending his children to an expensive private school.
Prosecutors argued that the millions of dollars he made at the Bellevue Hill home could have easily covered the alleged $150,000 he owed to dealers.
Judge Culver too He noted that Chikarovski was at high risk of being attacked while in prison and had received threats of violence, which he called “a very worrying matter.”
Barrister Phillip Boulton SC, who previously argued that his client’s upbringing with his mother in the public eye had negatively affected him, admitted Chikarovski’s decision-making was “stupid”.
But he argued that a series of mental disabilities reduced his moral culpability for the crime, while he had also been exposed to serious trauma as a child.
“The fact is that he was under the burden of ADHD, trauma-based anxiety disorder, distortion of his personality traits and different aspects of substance abuse,” Mr. Boulton said.
Chikarovski claimed he sold the substances to pay off debts he incurred to finance his own drug habit, but prosecutors said a recent multimillion-dollar home sale could have paid off his debts.
Chikarovski was caught after carrying out a series of drug deals with an undercover police officer, the first four days after he bought his flat in Vaucluse.
Police said the 38-year-old man received cryptocurrency in exchange for banned drugs on thousands of occasions since 2017.
Chikarovski used the dark web as what prosecutors called “an online store,” regularly promoting his drugs as “premium MDMA imported into Europe” and “premium cocaine.”
Dealing drugs, rather than downsizing his house or selling a car, was done to prevent his family from knowing about his own use, the lawyer added.
Judge Culver described the crime as “far more sophisticated than the average street dealer” through its use of the dark web, its ability to advertise and the protection afforded by the use of cryptocurrency.
He was arrested in May 2023 for supplying drugs on the dark web under the username ‘AusCokeKing’ in exchange for cryptocurrency.
“Unlike a street merchant, I am convinced that the criminal’s operation allowed him to advertise (his business)… securing users on the dark web without having to have trusted customers.”
The judge imposed a sentence of 35 months to serve as a correctional order, which included 18 months of home detention and 500 hours of community service.
He was also sentenced to 16 months in prison, although he has already served the eight-month non-parole period.
Chikarovski would violate his order if he reoffends, uses illegal drugs or fails to comply with his treatment program.
“He knows the pain he has caused his family… he has shattered the sense of stability they deserve,” the judge said.
“It may be tempting to use a high-profile person with apparently significant assets as a vehicle to send a message to the community…the law requires that sentencing not use this offender as an ordinary vehicle to send this message.”
Chikarovski is the son of Kerry Chikarovski, who was the state’s Liberal leader from 1999 to 2002 as the state’s first female opposition leader and regularly comments on political issues on ABC’s The Drum.
She has since founded her own consulting firm, Chikarovski & Associates, and serves as a board director for meal delivery service Tender Loving Cuisine.
Ms Chikarovski also sits on the board of several different organisations, including NSW Rugby Union, Adopt Change, is an ambassador for the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation and had a weekly radio show titled Chat with Chika between 2012 and 2014.