More than five years after being charged, Olympic swimming champion Neil Brooks and his wife have been committed to stand trial over an alleged multimillion-dollar fraud.
Brooks, 60, and his wife Linda have been accused of making dishonest representations to induce Glenn Melcheck and his wife to pay almost $2 million and buy 50 per cent of their sports merchandise company in 2008.
The company failed months later.
Brooks' defence barrister Chris Wilson on Wednesday argued his clients had no case to answer, saying there were problems in the prosecution's case.
He said they included Mr Melcheck claiming, in a separate civil court case, that he had relied principally on his accountant when making the decision to invest.
However, at a late 2022 committal hearing, Mr Melcheck said he had also relied on conversations with the Brooks and an investment proposal that was given to him.
The committal heard Mr Melcheck said Linda Brooks made false claims about having established relationships with European sporting teams such as Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United in a meeting to discuss buying into their company in early 2008.
Mr Wilson said on Wednesday Mr Melcheck's accountant was critical to the Brooks' case but he had refused to give evidence and had not been subpoenaed by the Crown.
However, Magistrate Peter Saggers said on Wednesday there was a prima facie case for Brooks and his wife to stand trial in Brisbane District Court at a date to be fixed.
After being introduced to each other in late 2007 by a third party, the Brooks and Melchecks had a number of meetings before an agreement was signed at the end of January, the committal heard.
Just days later the Melchecks paid a $50,000 deposit before settling the deal in February.
"It was $2 million. It struck me as incredible that you would pay so much money in a period of about two weeks," Mr Saggers said on Wednesday.
The company collapsed months later.
Two years later, Brooks' nose was broken after being jumped on the Gold Coast by bikies hired by ex-business partner Mr Melcheck, the committal was told.
In 2012 Mr Melcheck then spoke to Nine Network - who later did a story on the fraud allegations - in a bid to get the media to "hound" Brooks, Mr Wilson told the committal.
Mr Melcheck did not provide a written statement to police about the fraud claims until March 2016.
Brooks and his wife on Wednesday entered a not guilty plea after they were committed to stand trial and were released on bail.
Brooks earned fame as part of Australia's champion "Mean Machine" freestyle relay team, winning 1980 Olympic 4x100m medley gold before becoming a high-profile TV sport presenter.
