The average bricklayer, according to salary.com, makes just under $25 per hour with a yearly income of roughly $50,000. Don't tell that to Phillip Johnathan Harrison. He is an Australian bricklayer who claims to have a fortune of between $590 million and $9 billion (depending on what day you ask him) sitting in his bank account and he's all too willing to log into his account through his phone's app and prove it to you.
Recently, 29-year-old bricklayer Phillip Johnathan Harrison was pulled over by authorities while driving an Audi sports car. He was found to have significant quantities of ecstasy, methamphetamine, and Viagra in the car. It is estimated the methamphetamine he was carrying had a street value of $12,000. He was booked on drug charges.
After meeting with Nick Hanly, the attorney the Australian government assigned to him, it was discovered that Harrison had a fortune of more than $590 million in the bank. Apparently, the bricklayer came into this money within the last year. He told his attorney he was not at liberty to discuss how he came to be so much wealthier than your average guy who builds brick walls for a living.
Harrison urged his court appointed attorney to log onto his online banking account. Hanly did and discovered that Harrison had a cash balance of $596 million and a portfolio of properties worth $1.56 billion. That kind of net worth would make Harrison one of the richest people in Australia.
Harrison claims to have been set up by the government. He also claims to control the ASX 200, Australia's leading stock market. The court suggested that Harrison's mental health should be evaluated.
Harrison was forced to surrender his passport as his significant wealth made him a flight risk. Harrison was ordered to stay at his modest rented home on the Sunshine Coast to await trial.
Outside of court, Harrison was quick to open up about his vast wealth. He claims he made his money from profitable stocks and overseas sources such as ideas in cars and apps, which he said he's been selling for years. He denied that the money had anything to do with drugs.
Now it has been reveled that Harrison used a fake banking app to fool his attorney and the courts. This adds an additional charge of perverting the course of justice to the bricklayer's rap sheet. Investigators found that Harrison used a readily available app to fake the bank's Internet portal and fabricate his many millions.
A closer look into Harrison's past revealed an annual income of less than $75,000. That's a far cry from $596 million!
On Monday, March 28th, Harrison spoke to the Australian news show A Current Affair, during which he dug a deeper hole for himself claiming that his bank account had been frozen but that it contained $168 million.
"I won it all overseas," he started, contradicting what he said outside of the courts just 48 hours prior, before correcting himself.
"Sorry, not won it. I earned it all overseas through ideas and apps that I've been working on for years … online."
Harrison also reiterated his claim that he owns the ASX 200 sharemarket.
"I'm the controller of it all," he said.
But when the reporter logged on to Harrison's account on his own phone, it revealed a much less impressive account balance of a negative-$42.57 in savings.
Harrison is due to appear in court in Brisbane on April 18th on seven charges, including drug possession and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.
