Conman who scammed Australian taxpayers for 30 YEARS loses his deportation fight

A notorious conman who cheated Centrelink out of almost $90,000 has lost his fight against deportation after arguing it was an 'unreasonably harsh' penalty.

Michael Boghdadi Asaad, 80, had his visa cancelled and was jailed in 2016 for receiving welfare payments on the false basis he was born in Australia. 

Authorities also discovered that his true identity was Egyptian born Farouk Asaad, who had a criminal history spanning decades across the United States and Australia. 

Michael Boghdadi Asaad, 80, had his visa cancelled and was jailed in 2016 for receiving welfare payments on the false basis he was born in Australi

Michael Boghdadi Asaad, 80, had his visa cancelled and was jailed in 2016 for receiving welfare payments on the false basis he was born in Australia 

Authorities also discovered that his true identity was Egyptian born Farouk Asaad, who had a criminal history spanning decades across the United States and Australia

Authorities also discovered that his true identity was Egyptian born Farouk Asaad, who had a criminal history spanning decades across the United States and Australia 

Asaad arrived in Australia in the 1980s using a Canadian passport under the name of Rick Michaels. 

He was then able to gain a late registration birth certificate which stated he was born in New Norfolk in Tasmania.

This enabled him to get an Australian passport which he used to receive $89,161.44 from Centrelink between 2002 and 2009. 

He was convicted after a Brisbane District Court trial and sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail for what prosecutors labelled a 'calculated and sophisticated and determined fraud'. 

His criminal history in Australia goes back to 1993 and includes fraud charges and drug charges connected with a heroin syndicate. 

Before fleeing to Australia, Asaad was reportedly in and out of prisons in the United States between 1971 and 1987 on charges ranging from bank fraud to embezzlement to passing fake cheques. 

When he left the United States he also left behind his wife and his stepdaughter named Heidi. 

Heidi Kiernan, formerly Heidi Asaad, told Daily Mail Australia in January this year that she wanted to confront her father after learning Australian authorities were holding him at Villawood Detention Centre in

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