A ROGUE Gold Coast real estate agent who specialised in selling off some of Queensland’s most expensive mansions has been banned for life from the property industry.

The Ferrari and Bentley-driving Heather Filippini was permanently banned from operating as a real estate agent by the Commercial and Consumer Tribunal after defying a previous suspension.

The punishment comes five years after The Courier-Mail first exposed Ms Filippini’s dealings, including her links to a mystery Russian businessman, on the Gold Coast’s Sovereign Islands.

Ms Filippini operated her own real estate agency on the exclusive man-made island enclave, which is home to the Gold Coast’s rich and famous.

In 2006, she was banned from holding a real estate licence for four years after being found guilty of conflict-of-interest charges.

The tribunal found she had gained an illegal beneficial interest in two luxury homes she marketed because either she or her son-in-law, Russian businessman Alexei Fedotov, had bought the properties in breach of the Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act.

But an Office of Fair Trading investigation revealed she had continued working without a licence after her daughter Sarah Filippini, also known as Sarah Fedotov and Sarah Penney, took over the agency.

Fair Trading Minister Peter Lawlor said Ms Filippini was a “serial offender who blatantly flouted the law by operating without a licence”.

“This clear act of contempt left the Office of Fair Trading with no other option but to request the Commercial and Consumer Tribunal to permanently ban Heather Filippini from the industry,” Mr Lawlor said,.

He said the life ban was a win for consumers and a warning to real estate agents to act responsibly.

Sarah Filippini was also reprimanded and fined $6000 for employing an unlicensed agent. She and her mother were ordered to pay the OFT costs totalling $6715.

Ms Filippini was also embroiled in a bitter will dispute over a $12.5 million mansion she and her late de facto built on Sovereign Islands.

Frank Filippini died of a stroke last year but left his entire estate to his estranged wife Gwendoline, whom he never divorced despite living with Heather for 25 years.

Heather Filippini challenged the will and earlier this year the Supreme Court ruled in her favour, granting her the mansion, another property on Sovereign Islands, her trademark silver Bentley and a Ferrari F360 Spyder.

Sources: SMH