The air conditioner scam that duped a former AFL chair, a former state treasurer and other business high-flyers

A fraudulent scheme pretending to sell air conditioners to BHP and promising a "10 times" return to investors has led to jail time for a man who swindled some of the biggest names in Australian business. Key points: A state treasurer and former AFL chair were among investors caught up in a scam about efficient air conditioners Steven Phillip Heaton was jailed after falsely telling investors that BHP was going to buy thousands of the units The technology might actually work, but more research is needed An unsolicited LinkedIn message and some doctored emails took in sophisticated investors, including a former AFL chair, a former state treasurer, a banking boss, and a leader at a global mining company. When the pair met, Heaton told Mr Jolly he wanted the former treasurer to chair the companies involved and later showed him a signed BHP purchase order — a promise to buy 100 units. But by April 2017, the units still hadn't been installed and Heaton's contact at BHP had become aware that further emails and documents, purporting to be from BHP, had been "fabricated or 'doctored'". The technology's aim was to be more efficient by "pre-cooling" the air before it got to the main air conditioning unit, but those delivered to BHP didn't have the required power meters installed.