How Lamborghini-driving grifter conned dozens of investors out of $35m with ... trends now
David Bunevacz's life looked too good to be true.
The handsome international sportsman, who represented UCLA and the Philippines in the decathlon, roared around Los Angeles in his yellow Lamborghini, returning home to his wife - a former model - and daughter - a model - for lavish parties in the mansion once owned by Kylie Jenner.
To his friends he was a jet-set businessman, who generously included them in his lucrative deals - from 2010, involved in the booming marijuana business.
Yet last year those friends learnt to their horror that Bunevacz's seemingly-gilded existence was indeed too good to be true.
David Bunevacz and his wife Jessica Rodriguez. He was arrested in April, and in November sentenced to 17 years in prison for a $35 million fraud
Bunevacz and his family lived in this Calabasas mansion, previously owned by Kylie Jenner
He was arrested in April, and in July pleaded guilty to fraud.
In November he was sentenced to 17 years in prison, and ordered to repay $35 million that he swindled from over 100 investors.
It is thought unlikely that any of them will see their money again.
Bunevacz's astonishing rise and fall began in Los Angeles, where he was born - the son of a Hungarian restaurant owner, Joseph Bunevacz, and a Filipina nurse, Filomena, who moved from the Philippines to California in the late 1960s
The young David was a high school athletics star, excelling in high jump, javelin and hurdles.
He went on to compete for the Philippines at the Southeast Asian Games in 1997, placing second in the decathlon.
Bunevacz settled in Manila, working in television co-hosting a sports and travel TV show, and gaining some minor acting parts.
He met his wife Jessica Rodriguez, a model and talent manager, and in 2006 Bunevacz opened a plastic surgery clinic in Manila - advertised with a giant billboard that read 'Miss Ugly No More'.
Jessica Rodriguez is pictured with their daughter Breanna, a model and equestrian
The business soon soured, however: Bunevacz was accused of swindling investors, and was beaten up, threatened at gunpoint and forced to sign over his Porsche Cayenne Turbo, according to The Los Angeles Times.
He and his wife fled the country, moving back to California.
Jessica wrote a book for 'polished women'
When Bunevacz told the story of their departure to one friend, it was, he told the paper, 'a little mixture of Jason Bourne and Indiana Jones.'
Bunevacz appeared to be thriving in Los Angeles.
His wife wrote a book about marrying 'well' - a manual for what she termed 'polished women'.
In 2008, he launched an audacious plan to secure tickets for the Beijing Olympics, partnering up with Gene Hammett, an Atlanta ticket broker.
Hammett was
