The son of a prominent former politician "shattered his family's sense of stability" when police busted his lucrative drug business based on the dark web.
But Mark Chikarovski, the son of former NSW Liberal Party leader Kerry Chikarovski, will not spend extra time in custody after a District Court judge sentenced him to home detention.
He was arrested in May 2023 and eventually pleaded guilty to a string of drug charges, admitting to supplying drugs online under the username "AusCokeKing" in exchange for cryptocurrency.
Officers found large quantities of cocaine, MDMA and methamphetamine, and a large amount of cryptocurrency, when they arrested him at an apartment complex at Bondi Junction in Sydney's east.
But in a lengthy judgment on Friday, Judge Jane Culver delivered reasons for allowing him to serve a corrections order instead of prison time.
They included his commitment to rehabilitation, the severe mental health impacts of his time in prison, his prior good character and his insight into his own offending.
Chikarovski had already been noted as being at a high risk of being attacked while in prison and had received threats of violence, which Judge Culver labelled "a very troubling matter".
Barrister Phillip Boulton SC, who previously argued his client's upbringing with his mother in the public light had affected him negatively, admitted Chikarovski's decision-making was "stupid".
But he argued a series of mental impairments reduced his moral culpability for the offending, while he had also been exposed to serious trauma as a child.
"The fact is he was under the burden of ADHD, trauma-based anxiety disorder, distortion in his personality traits and different parts of substance abuse," Mr Boulton said.
Judge Culver imposed a 35-month sentence to be served as a corrections order, which included 18 months of home detention and 500 hours of community service.
He was also given a 16-month prison sentence, although he has already served the eight-month non-parole period.
Chikarovski would breach his order if he reoffends, uses illegal drugs or fails to comply with his treatment program.
"He knows the heartache he has caused his family ... he has shattered the sense of stability they deserve," the judge said.
"It might be tempting to use a high-profile person with ostensibly significant assets as a vehicle by which to send a message to the community ... the law requires the sentencing not use this offender as the ordinary vehicle to send this message."
Chikarovski claimed he sold the substances to pay off debts he incurred funding his own drug habit.
But prosecutors said that was inconsistent with his lavish lifestyle, which involved him buying multimillion-dollar properties and two Porsches, as well as sending his children to an expensive private school.
Chikarovski bought an $11.5 million property in Vaucluse in February 2023 and two weeks later sold another in Bellevue Hill for $12.5 million.
Prosecutors argued the millions of dollars he gained on the Bellevue Hill house could have easily covered the alleged $150,000 he owed dealers.
Chikarovski was sprung wearing gloves and packaging cocaine and MDMA into envelopes ready to post when officers arrested him.
He did a number of drug deals with an undercover police officer, the first coming four days after he bought his Vaucluse home.
Chikarovski used the dark web as what prosecutors termed "an online shopfront", regularly promoting his drugs as "premium European-imported MDMA" and "premium-grade cocaine".
Judge Culver described the offending as "far more sophisticated than the average street dealer" via his use of the dark web, his ability to advertise and the protection using cryptocurrency gave him.
"Unlike a street dealer, I am persuaded that the offender's operation permitted him to advertise (his business) ... securing users on the dark web without him having to have trusted customers."
Chikarovski's mother led the NSW Liberal Party from 1999 to 2002 as the state's first female opposition leader.
