Inside the rich list lifestyle of Ahmed Fahour CEO during Latitude Financial cyberhack

The flashy corporate boss at the center of what could become Australia’s biggest data breach ever is a notorious self-promoter whose extravagant salary packages have sparked outrage.

Ahmed Fahour, 57, is CEO of Latitude Financial, the interest-free credit card and buy now, pay later company used by retailers like Harvey Norman and Apple in Australia.

The company has now revealed that the personal details of up to 15 million customers – including driver’s license and passport numbers – have been leaked in a devastating hack that will eclipse even last year’s massive Optus breach.

But as backlash explodes over the massive data governance failure, this week Mr Fahour will walk away from the company at the height of the crisis, when he retires after four years of service.

Mr Fahour, who announced his departure plans last August, plans to spend more time with his newlywed second wife Hannah in their newly built $5.1 million beachfront dream home in Melbourne’s posh Sorrento coastal suburb .

Ahmed Fahour sold his Hawthorn mansion Invergowrie (pictured) for a whopping $40.5 million in 2021, doubling his money in eight years after buying it for $20 million in 2013

Ahmed Fahour drove a luxury Maserati supercar (similar to the one pictured) with the AMAZNN region as Australia Post CEO

He paid cash for the bespoke five bedroom home using the huge profit he made selling the Hawthorn mansion ‘Invergowrie’ for a whopping $40.5 million in 2021, doubling his money in eight years after buying it for $20 million in 2013.

The twice-married father of four, from his first marriage to yoga teacher Dionnie, drove to work in a Maserati supercar rego AMAZNN while CEO of Australia Post before leaving in 2017 amid high drama over his salary and bonuses.

“Ahmed’s background and ability include the fact that he’s pretty much a good salesman and he sells himself really well,” admitted John Stanhope, his former chairman at Australia Post, in a recent profile on the boss.

“He honestly believes he is worth the value he demands.”

The Muslim son of Lebanese immigrants – one of eight children – is shameless about his talent for always negotiating the best possible deal for himself.

That trait was first noticed 18 years ago when he was named CEO of NAB.

At the bank’s 2005 AGM, a former CEO of NAB, Neil Clark, emphasized Mr. Fahour’s high regard for himself.

He revealed that Mr Fahour had earned more in his first 28 days at NAB than Mr Clark had made in 45 years working at the highest levels of Australian banking.

Mr. Clark dryly added that he hoped Mr. Fahour could do as well for shareholders as he did for himself.

It was a comment echoed a few years later when he was CEO of Australia Post and his salary was quietly hidden in the annual report as he laid off 900 employees.

There was outrage when it was later revealed that he made $5.6 million in 2016, far more than what his predecessors got in the role.

The extravagant salary package was criticized by then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

“As a prime minister and a taxpayer, I spoke to the chairman today,” the prime minister said at the time.

‘I think that salary, that allowance, is too high.’

Even six years later, current Australia Post CEO Paul Graham still earned just a shade of over $2 million in 2022 – and that was clearly stated in the latest annual report.

Mr Fahour eventually left Australia Post in 2017 over payroll after coming under pressure from a furious backlash from the public.

One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson said his firing was “fantastic” — but after seven years in the top job, Mr. Fahrour walked away with a golden handshake of $10.8 million in base salary and bonuses.

Six years later, Mr. Fahrour resigns again, announcing his intention to step down last August after four years at the helm of Latitude.

During his tenure, he was again rocked by controversy with a row over stock options in an abandoned $4 billion stock exchange that could have made him $50 million.

After a revised stock offer went through — at $2.60 a share — the stock has since fallen to just $1.14 on Tuesday and is tipped to fall further as anger over the data breach mounts.

Even before the details of the leak came to light on March 16, the share price was already just $1.21. Net profit after tax fell 66 percent to $30.6 million and sales fell 12.1 percent.

But he insists his four-year reign has been a success, propelling the $2 billion company from the fifth-largest consumer lender to second place.

“It’s a huge, huge change,” he said.

“It’s been a privilege to be CEO of Latitude and I’m incredibly proud of everything the company has accomplished.”

Mr Stanhope, who was chairman at Australia Post during the salary wrangling, insisted the corporate whiz was worth every penny.

“If you put yourself out there like he does, then you’re painting a target on yourself,” Stanhope told the AFR in 2019.

“As far as I’m concerned, he’s very good at his job.”

HOW LATITUDE LEAK COMPARES TO THE MASSIVE OPTUS BREAK

Up to 15 million customers leaked personal data in a devastating hack that eclipses even last year’s massive Optus breach

The latest hack leaked personal data of up to 15 million Latitude customers, including nearly 8 million driver’s license numbers — 3.2 million of them in the past decade — and about 530,000 passport numbers.

An additional 6.1 million records dating back to 2005 – which may include names, addresses, phone numbers and/or dates of birth – were also accessed in the breach.

Monday’s updated numbers are 42 times larger than Latitude’s original report, eclipsing even last year’s colossal Optus data breach.

Ironically, CEO Ahmed Fahour recently bragged, “We have a huge data lake in our organization.”

In another interview, he added prophetically: ‘Confidence in institutions has fallen to an all-time low. Trust in people in authority has fallen to an all-time low.

“And so right now you have people who think of many institutions and leaders in the same way that they think of a used car salesman.”

However, in the wake of the data breach, he was more humble this week as he broke his silence about the large-scale hacking attack.

“It is extremely disappointing that such a significant number of additional clients and applicants have been impacted by this incident,” he admitted.

“We apologize without reservation.”

It comes after Optus revealed in September that personal details of 10 million of its customers had been leaked by hackers, including passport, Medicare and driver’s license numbers.

Customers most affected by the breach received free monthly credit check reports to give them early warning of identity theft attempts using the stolen data.

Those affected by the Optus hack may have already taken the necessary steps to protect them from the latest Latitude leak — such as getting new driver’s license or card numbers and replacing passports — but many won’t.