Francis John Nugan (30 December 1942 in

Griffith, New South Wales Griffith is a major regional city in the northern Riverina region of western New South Wales, known commonly as the food bowl of Australia. It is also the seat of the City of Griffith Local government in Australia, local government area. Like ...

– 27 January 1980 in

Bowenfels, New South Wales Bowenfels is a small town on the western outskirts of Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia. Today there are effectively two Bowenfels. Near Lithgow, on the Great Western Highway, is Bowenfels (with the homestead of the valley's first settler, ...

), known as Frank Nugan, was an Australian lawyer and merchant banker known for co-founding the

Nugan Hand Bank Nugan Hand Bank was an Australian merchant bank that collapsed in 1980 after the suicide of one of its founders, Australian lawyer Francis John Nugan, resulting in a major scandal. News stories suggested that the bank had been involved in ille ...

Background

Frank's father, Alfred Neugarten, was born to Jewish parents in Germany and fought in the

International Brigades The International Brigades () were soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front (Spain), Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Bri ...

in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. In 1938, Alfred migrated to Palestine with a son from an earlier marriage, where he married another Jewish refugee, Anneliese Meinhardt. The family migrated to Australia in 1939 and changed their name to Nugan. Frank used to claim to be Spanish. Frank Nugan was born in 1942 in the town of

, a centre for fruit and vegetable growing, where his family had established the Nugan Fruit Group. He attended the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

(

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

, 1964) and

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

(

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

, 1965).Frank Farrell (2000)
Nugan, Francis John (1942–1980)
''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 15, (MUP)

Career

After graduating, Nugan spent several years in Canada before returning to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in 1968 and becoming a

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

. In 1970 Nugan was a director of mineral exploration company Meekatharra Minerals when it came to the stock market in an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

. After prior share and land deals with New Yorker Michael Hand, Nugan set up with Hand the

merchant bank A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage, it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in comm ...

Nugan Hand Ltd in 1973 with nominal share capital of $1m. Between 1976 and 1979 the bank's reported turnover rose from $30m to $1bn, as the bank opened offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, the Cayman Islands and Saudi Arabia. Nugan was also a director of Nugan Group Ltd, a company his brother Kenneth had built up into a major fruit and vegetable distributor. In 1978 Nugan and his brother were among those charged with conspiracy to defraud the company; the legal defense was funded in part by funds taken from the bank.

Death

On 27 January 1980, Nugan was found dead on an isolated dirt track near

with a gunshot wound to the head, which the coroner concluded was self-inflicted. The crime scene was found to be disturbed with many footprints around the body, which was noted at the time by police. Nugan had acquired a shooter's license on 7 January and then a rifle the following day. The calling card of Nugan Hand's legal counsel,

William Colby William Egan Colby (January 4, 1920 – May 6, 1996) was an American intelligence officer who served as Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from September 1973 to January 1976. During World War II, Colby served with the Office of Strat ...

, was found in Nugan's pocket.''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...

'', 25 September 1980
The last 20 frantic days of Frank Nugan's life: Desperate bid to save bank empire
/ref> In the days preceding his death, Nugan had sought to arrange a move to Florida with his US-born wife and three young children, and appeared confident that he could leave his Australian legal troubles behind him. Continued speculation that Nugan had faked his own death, including a report from a businessman who said he saw and talked with Nugan while on a trip to the U.S., and was in hiding led authorities to exhume Nugan's body in February 1981. Dental records and fingerprints were used to confirm that the body was Nugan's.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nugan, Francis John 1942 births 1980 deaths People from Griffith, New South Wales University of Sydney alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Australian Jews 20th-century Australian businesspeople Suicides by firearm in Australia Suicides in New South Wales