Accused fraudster Annalouise “Lou” Spence has checked into a private psychiatric facility in Bronte, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, six days after the Supreme Court granted her bail.
Clutching a monogrammed drink bottle containing “Higher Living” organic tea, with a tube of cold sore ointment between her teeth, Spence arrived at the facility mid-morning on Wednesday accompanied by her husband, Adam Spence, who has offered bail surety of $1 million.
According to her bail conditions, she had to be driven straight to the clinic from the Dillwynia Correctional Centre, a women’s maximum-security prison near Windsor in north-west Sydney, where she has been incarcerated since her arrest two months ago.
Spence, 51, is accused of misappropriating $1.7 million from her boss, billionaire philanthropist Judith Neilson. Spence is alleged to have fraudulently obtained a supplementary Black American Express card in her name but attached to Neilson’s account.
Among fresh allegations Spence is facing is that she spent $143,000 on skin care treatments at Muse Clinic in Crows Nest, more than $30,000 on shoes and handbags from luxury brand Jimmy Choo, and almost half a million dollars on airfares.
She is also accused of spending $3500 for her dog to stay at Terrigal Pet Resorts.
Police also allege that Spence used her boss’s Amex to spend $25,610 at the five-star Claridge’s Hotel in London’s Mayfair during a four-day stay in June 2023.
The police have also obtained an email from Spence to the Claridge’s concierge. Dated June 8, 2023, the email from Spence informed the Claridge’s staff that she had “taken the liberty of having some items sent direct to the Hotel. I would greatly appreciate if they could be in my room on arrival. Two of the items are very large Louis Vuitton trunks.”
Two weeks earlier, Spence is alleged to have spent $34,750 buying monogrammed Louis Vuitton luggage from the Vintage Luggage Company in Double Bay. She later spent another $8000 on two hat boxes.
In July 2025, Spence spent $58,593 purchasing a rose-gold vintage Rolex watch while in London.
According to police documents, when Spence was challenged about this purchase in September last year, she repaid the cost of the watch. However, Spence is now being accused of repaying the money “from cash that was itself fraudulently obtained” from her employer and deposited into her own bank account.
Spence is also alleged to have paid more than $3300 buying four artistic skulls. “It is noted that Spence’s husband collects skulls,” the police documents state.
In an affidavit provided to the court, her husband, Adam Spence, who listed his profession as a “chief revenue officer”, said he had met “Lou” in 2012 and they had married in 2014.
Spence said he became aware of the allegations against his wife in October 2025, when he began liaising with Simon Freeman, the CEO of the Judith Neilson family office.
His wife had been out walking her cocker spaniel, Bennett, on the morning of April 22. As she turned the corner, she saw that her house was swarming with police. She was taken into custody and, initially, she was refused bail due to the seriousness of the offences.
It was only a year earlier that her billionaire boss was among those raising her glass to celebrate her private secretary’s 50th birthday at a lavish party in the McRae Bar at the five-star Capella Hotel in Sydney’s CBD.
As Neilson rested her cocktail glass on a linen napkin monogrammed with Spence’s initials, the philanthropist had no idea that police would later allege she was footing the $40,000 party costs, which included $1000 for the napkins, more than $14,000 for the designer shoes, handbag and two dresses her secretary wore, along with the $6000 for her secretary’s two-night stay at the Capella with her husband.
For eight years, Neilson, who does not use email or a computer, had entrusted Spence with access to her intimate personal and financial details.
By impersonating the 79-year-old and forging authorisations, Spence is alleged to have spent around $1.7 million.
Documents tendered in court by her own legal team indicate that Spence, 51, faces challenges in defending the fraud charges which now total 128. She is facing a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment if convicted.
“It may be accepted that there is a strong Crown case, that there are serious allegations of fraud, and that custodial sentences will be imposed if convicted of the more serious matters,” her barrister Gabrielle Bashir, SC, submitted to the court at Spence’s bail hearing last Thursday. Bashir said this did not mean her client should not be granted bail.
During her three-week stay at the private clinic, Spence will be offered four hours of daily group therapy “directed at her mental health diagnoses” and one-on-one psychological therapy.
When she leaves the clinic, her bail conditions include reporting to Newtown police daily and not leaving her Erskineville house except for legal and medical appointments.
Her matter will return to court on July 16.
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