A high-flying Australian couple who seemed to live a picture-perfect life of luxury abroad are now behind bars accused of defrauding investors of nearly $600,000.
Investment advisor Luka Matak and his travel blogger wife Adriana Kupresak have been locked up in Croatia’s Remetinec prison on the outskirts of the capital Zagreb since their arrest earlier this month.
The former Sydney couple are accused of defrauding five people of about 350,000 euros (A$587,000).
No charges have been filed and the couple denies any wrongdoing.
Remetinec prison is the largest prison in Croatia, is known for its overcrowding and has been described as worse than prisons in Russia.
Current and former prisoners include a former Croatian prime minister, a Nazi war criminal and a Russian activist.
It’s a stark contrast to the lavish life the Mataks previously enjoyed, with photos showing them enjoying first-class flights, Michelin-starred restaurant meals, VIP boxes at football matches, Rolex watches and Hermes handbags as they divide their time between London and Croatia.
Luka Matak and his wife Adriana Kupresak, travel blogger, are accused of defrauding investors
The couple also enjoyed a stay in Dubai during the Covid lockdowns.
Sources claim Matak received £2.5 million ($4.9 million) from investors in Croatia, Britain and Australia, who were promised returns of up to 20 percent a year, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Mr Matak described himself in British company documents as a “hedge fund director” who started investing when he was 15, “purely as a hobby, starting with $2,000”.
He boasted in a promotional brochure for the ‘Hedgehog Capital Fund’ that by the time he graduated from Macquarie University in 2015, savings had grown to $100,000 and he now had £6 million ($11.3 million) – half of the money in the fund.
The brochure claims the fund was managed by Mr Matak and British property developer Alax Waxman, who now claims he never received it
“I invested some money and when I went to take the money back, it didn’t come,” he told the publication.
Another British investor invested £150,000 ($283,000) with Mr Matak after the pair first met through their respective partners in 2021.
When he requested to withdraw his money, he claims he received months of ‘bulls**t excuses’ from Mr Matak, who eventually went to Croatia, allegedly without returning the investor’s money.
Adriana Matak (née Kupresak) was a glamorous travel blogger before her arrest
An Australian investor who claimed he had known Matak since primary school invested $45,000 with him in 2017, while three other friends invested similar amounts.
When the investors demanded their money back, they claimed that Mr Matak had failed to return the money.
Ms Matak worked for the Croatian Tourist Board for several years and ran a tourism blog, which has since been deleted.
She opened up about past struggles with alcohol and addiction in a piece for Life as a Human magazine in 2020.
“I’m open about my new journey and the struggles of the past because I know what it’s like to consider taking your own life and I know what it’s like to look for any reason not to,” she wrote.
“It’s ironic because as a travel blogger I always sought the road less traveled and as an addict I sought the road most had already taken.
“I’m living proof that you can change your life and live the life of your dreams, you just have to give yourself a real fair chance.”
The article notes that Ms. Matak’s work had previously been published on Lonely Planet and The Huffington Post.
Luka Matak and his wife Adriana deny any wrongdoing and no charges have yet been filed despite spending the past three weeks behind bars
Russian activist Aisoltan Niyazova, who is linked to the anti-Putin group Pussy Riot, will never forget her week-long stay in Remetinec prison in 2022.
She shared a cell with seven other women and was given two hours of fresh air in a small, dark space between two buildings.
Male prisoners can exercise in a large courtyard with a volleyball court, table tennis tables and badminton courts.
“You would think that nothing could be worse than a Russian prison, but I can officially confirm that Croatian prisons are a hundred times worse,” Niyazova told news website Meduza last year.
Former Croatian Prime Minister Ivor Sanader is currently serving an eight-year sentence in Remetinec Prison.
It is also where World War II concentration camp commander Dinko Šakić spent his last days before dying in 2008.
The Mataks have traded their lavish lifestyle for overcrowded cells in Remetinec prison