Francis John Nugan (30 December 1942 in Griffith, New South Wales – 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.

Background

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

International Brigades The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed f ...

in the Spanish Civil War. 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 Griffith, New South Wales, a centre for fruit and vegetable growing, where his family had established the Nugan Fruit Group. He attended the University of Sydney ( Bachelor of Laws, 1964) and University of California, Berkeley ( Master of Laws, 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 state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

in 1968 and becoming a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner 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 ...

. In 1970 Nugan was a director of mineral exploration company Meekatharra Minerals when it came to the stock market in an initial public offering. After prior share and land deals with New Yorker

Michael Hand Michael Jon Hand (born 8 December 1941, New York City) is a US ex-Green Beret known for co-founding the Nugan Hand Bank. He has more recently been the owner of TOPS Knives. Career Hand grew up in New York City, where he attended De Witt Clinton ...

, 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 commodi ...

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, was found in Nugan's pocket.''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'', 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