Glamorous ex-wife of wealthy Geocon property developer says traumatic marriage split led to Sonya Georgalis’s $20,000 cocaine court allegations

A property tycoon’s ex-wife allegedly caught with cocaine worth about $20,000 has faced ‘significant’ personal challenges since the breakdown of her marriage.

Sonya Georgalis separated from Nick Georgalis, founder and managing director of ACT-based construction giant Geocon and Iconic Hotels, in 2023. 

The former couple sold their Red Hill estate in Canberra for $6.66million in September that year, setting an auction sale record price for a single residence in the ACT.

Georgalis, who still lives in Canberra according to court records, was allegedly caught with 66.1g of cocaine at Redfern, in Sydney’s inner-city, shortly before 11pm on May 19. 

With the current street price of cocaine in Australia ranging from $300 to $400 a gram, a drug seizure of that quantity could be worth between $19,800 and $26,400. 

Georgalis was also allegedly carrying two tablets of the prescription opioid analgesic tapentadol, sold as Palexia and used to treat moderate to severe pain.

After her arrest, Georgalis was taken to Mascot police station and charged with supplying a prohibited drug and possessing a prescribed restricted substance. 

The 48-year-old spent the night in police cells and faced a bail court the following day where she was represented by a Legal Aid lawyer.

Georgalis pleaded guilty to both charges at that hearing and was granted bail under the conditions she live at a Canberra address and not drink alcohol or take drugs.

Judge Daniel Covington requested a sentencing assessment report be prepared by Queanbeyan Community Corrections District Office and adjourned the case.

Georgalis was listed for sentence at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on July 17 but on that day her new lawyer sought to withdraw her guilty pleas.

‘She was heavily under the influence of drugs when she entered the plea,’ solicitor Jake Leighton told Judge Greg Grogin.

‘She didn’t understand… the defences available to her.’

The court heard Georgalis would be contesting the nature and weight of the drug that is the subject of the supply charge if the case proceeded to a hearing. 

Judge Grogin granted the plea traversal application and ordered police to serve a brief of evidence on Georgalis’s legal team.

Georgalis was back in Downing Centre Local Court on Friday when she was represented by AJ Nagendiram, a senior advocate from Criminal Defence Lawyers Australia. 

Mr Nagendiram requested a hearing date for his client, who sat in the public gallery, and said police had not yet served the brief.

‘I think it’s a pretty straightforward hearing,’ he said.

A registrar ordered police to provide the brief by September 25 and set the hearing down for April next year.

Outside court, Mr Nagendiram said his client, ‘intends to exercise her legal right to test the prosecution case at a defended hearing’.  

‘She has also experienced significant and well-documented personal circumstances following the breakdown of her marriage, which form part of the broader context in which these proceedings have arisen,’ he said.

‘Ms Georgalis initially entered a plea of guilty while in police custody, at a time when she was under significant pressure and represented by a publicly funded legal representative. 

‘After subsequently obtaining independent legal advice from our office, an application was made to traverse that plea.’

Mr Nagendiram again noted police had so far failed to comply with the court’s orders for service of the prosecution brief. 

‘At present, no evidence in support of the allegations has been served upon the defence,’ he said.

‘Our client is entitled to the presumption of innocence, a fundamental principle of the Australian criminal justice system. 

‘The burden rests entirely upon the prosecution to prove each allegation beyond reasonable doubt. Ms Georgalis is not required to prove her innocence.’

Georgalis has appeared regularly on the social scene, attending race meetings in NSW, Victoria and the ACT, and has operated a sleep clinic.

She and her ex-husband once travelled the world as a family with their four children – now in their teens – with trips to Rome, Paris, the Greek islands and South America.

Nick Georgalis is a noted art collector who founded Geocon in 2007, and now has billions of dollars invested in apartments under construction in the ACT.

A decade ago, Mr Georgalis was named by Business Review Weekly as among Australia’s richest young entrepreneurs, with a personal wealth of $144million.

He is not accused nor associated with the charges his ex-wife is now facing.