Perth billionaire Laurence Escalante accused of terrorising ex-partner, stealing luxury items, drug offences

Perth billionaire Laurence Escalante has faced court on serious charges after being accused of attacking his ex-partner after breaking into her home. WA Police dramatically raided Mr Escalante’s residence — which cannot be revealed amid fears he will be targeted or even abducted due to his vast fortune — on Thursday before detaining him in a police lock up overnight. The 44-year-old fronted Perth Magistrates Court on Friday, charged with aggravated assault, criminal damage, aggravated home burglary and stealing. He allegedly broke into the 24-year-old woman’s home on Monday night — the Australia Day public holiday — attacked her and stole luxury items. Police have also charged Mr Escalante with persistently engaging in family violence, allegedly committed between June 2025 and January 2026. They also claim he had cocaine, MDMA and ketamine in trafficable quantities when they raided his dwelling, and charged him with three counts of possessing drugs with intent to sell or supply. Mr Escalante stood behind a security screen on Thursday, flanked by guards and wearing a black puffer jacket despite warm temperatures. Magistrate Elaine Campione imposed a strict restraining order preventing him from contacting the alleged victim directly or indirectly, by “pigeon, letter, any means whatsoever”. He was granted bail and had to pay a bond of $100,000 by electronic funds transfer to get out, which he did. Mr Escalante refused to speak with media waiting outside court before leaving in a waiting luxury Range Rover. Ms Campione also subjected him to a personal undertaking of $100,000. He is next listed to appear in the same court on February 26 and is obtaining legal advice. As part of his bail conditions, Mr Escalante must not leave the State and must not contact prosecution witnesses. He must also report to the officer in charge of the Northbridge Police Station each Monday and Friday. Mr Escalante is the creator and boss of Virtual Gaming Worlds, behind online gambling brands including Chumba Casino and Global Poker, and has amassed a fortune to $4.5 billion, according to the latest Financial Review Rich List. A VGW spokesperson confirmed the company was aware of the charges. “These are unrelated to VGW and personal in nature,” they said. “However, we can confirm Mr Escalante will be taking a leave of absence from his role as CEO and executive chairman of VGW. “In the interim, we have installed experienced leadership from our existing executive team to take on those responsibilities and it remains business as usual for VGW. “The company takes any allegations of this nature extremely seriously. As this is a private matter and remains before the courts, we cannot comment further.” In August last year, Mr Escalante completed an $810m offer for the 30 per cent of VGW he did not own, revaluing the group set up by the former financial planner at $3.2 billion. Mr Escalante founded VGW in 2010, but it was the COVID-19 lockdowns in the US that propelled the business to success. It has since raked in billions of dollars by using loopholes in US laws banning internet gambling to deliver online “social” casinos and poker machine games. However, growing regulatory obstacles in the US in the past three years have clouded its future. Nonetheless, it is still making record profits, earning a forecast $550m after tax for the 2025 financial year on more than $6b in revenue.