Finally, the stunning true story behind hit TV streaming drama is revealed – as socialite power couple’s VERY controversial family member is sensationally unmasked

It was a mysterious moment on Paramount+’s hit streaming drama Fake, when the love rat character preying on actor Asher Keddie’s character alluded to how he himself had allegedly been scammed.

Now the true story behind this moment can be revealed – and it’s proof that the truth can be stranger than fiction. The alleged con man can be revealed as Sydney socialite Hollie Nasser’s big brother, Timothy Alford.

Alford’s alleged $6 million scam against another con artist — romance con artist Sean Lander (played on the show by David Wenham) — went wrong when Lander posted a creepy threat online about Alford’s family.

Details of Alford’s run-in with Lander have now emerged after it was revealed late last year that the FBI has launched an investigation into fraud allegations against Alford.

The $50 million embezzlement investigation spans two countries and involves alleged scams against American multimillionaires and the ex-wife of a French president.

And it’s just the latest chapter in an increasingly complicated story about a family that has repeatedly been at the center of scandal and intrigue in recent years.

Newcastle-born venture capitalist Alford, 41, was living a quieter life as Hollie’s lesser-known big brother when she suddenly hit the headlines three years ago.

She became embroiled in a messy love triangle with her best friend’s husband, investment banker Charlie Aitken, who was still married to corporate lawyer Ellie.

Close friends Ellie and Hollie, 38, were celebrated as leading figures on Sydney’s social circuit and were regularly photographed at functions and charity events.

Along with Hollie’s then husband, millionaire publican Chris Nasser, the four of them had socialized together as wealthy power couples.

But when Hollie and Charlie’s affair became public, Mr Nasser immediately withdrew his $7.5 million investment in Mr Aitken’s fund management company, Aitken Investment Management.

The company had previously attracted investors such as Kerry Stokes, the multi-billionaire owner of Channel 7. In November 2021, Mr Nasser left the board.

Despite the high stakes, Hollie’s romance with Charlie Aitken later failed, and she went on to date the managing director of eastern suburbs-based Saxons IT, Marshal de Saxe.

Elsewhere in Sydney, another love drama had unfolded, with con man Sean Lander being exposed as a love rat.

He had begun a relationship with journalist Stephanie Wood, to whom he had portrayed himself as a retired architect with a sheep property.

What seemed like an exciting romance with a compassionate, loving, and truthful man floundered for sixteen months amid his frequent no-shows, bizarre excuses, and date cancellations.

Wood discovered that the man she fell in love with was actually an undischarged bankrupt with a criminal record who was involved with another woman.

Her 2019 book Fake, in which she referred to him by the pseudonym Joe, was turned into a gripping TV drama from Paramount+ earlier this year.

It starred Wenham in the role inspired by Lander and Keddie playing a character based on Wood.

But the year after the book was released, Lander himself was accused of threatening Nasser’s brother, Tim Alford.

The two men had a history.

‘End like McGurk’: Chilling messages broadcast in court

Lander reportedly told Downing Center Local Court that he had struck a property deal in 2016 with Alford, who was required to pay a $6 million deposit, but instead sent him a forgery.

As a result, he said, he lost the property and the shares he had built into it. He searched for the money for years in vain.

Alford has since denied that the $6 million deposit ever happened.

In March 2020, Lander was accused of threatening Alford by sending him an uncaptioned photo of a large man in a hoodie standing outside the home of Alford’s mother, Kerrie, facing the property’s gate.

The text message preceding the photo contained the sinister phrase “last chance.”

In April 2021, Lander admitted in court to the threat, but said he acted in “self-defense.”

He said he sent the image under the mistaken belief that the house was Alford’s, as it was the address Alford provided on the failed $6 million business deal.

Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson found Lander guilty of using a carriage service to threaten, harass or insult, but she accepted he did not know he was threatening Ms Alford in the process.

She sentenced Lander, 58, to a two-year community corrections order because a reasonable person would consider the image ‘threatening, intimidating and offensive’.

She also read out numerous “very robust” email and text exchanges between Lander and Mr. Alford, “so that the flavor of the interactions between the parties is clear.”

In the first message, sent on February 28, 2020 via WhatsApp, Alford tells Lander that his claim is “BS” and “beyond crazy,” and that “I have never met you, never interacted with you.”

Lander replied, “You are certainly the most extraordinary liar.”

Two hours later, Alford told Lander he could get his wife’s number in five minutes and “I wonder what she would think about this.”

After more hostile messages, Alford told Lander, “You’re going to end up like McGurk, dead, the way you do business.”

Alford was previously pursued by failed real estate developer Ron Medich over an alleged unpaid $300,000 loan.

Medich is currently serving a 39-year prison sentence for the ‘execution style murder’ of his rival Michael McGurk, over non-payment of money.

Alford has denied ever owing Medich money.

Nine newspapers have claimed that Alford has now left a trail of debts related to the FBI investigation, which he denies.