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Ex-prisoner’s giant AI deal · The Front

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  Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from The Australian, I'm Clare Harvey with
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  Speaker 1: The Front's afternoon headlines. Australian data centre builder Firmus Technologies,
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  Speaker 1: part owned by convicted insider trader Oliver Curtis, has signed
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  Speaker 1: a multi-billion dollar deal with OpenAI to build two data
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  Speaker 1: centres in Malaysia as part of a multi-year partnership. Curtis,
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  Speaker 1: who is married to Sydney publicist Roxy Jusenko, spent 12
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  Speaker 1: months in prison a decade ago after being convicted of
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  Speaker 1: what he now calls gravely stupid crimes when he was
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  Speaker 1: a 22-year-old banker. His co-offender, John Hartman, is now one
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  Speaker 1: of mining billionaire Andrew Forrest's lieutenants. Curtis is now worth
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  Speaker 1: more than a billion dollars and in the past year
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  Speaker 1: secured backing from chipmaker NVIDIA and Meta for Firmus, which
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  Speaker 1: says it builds, quote, energy-efficient data centres. The deal means
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  Speaker 1: Firmus will become the biggest listing of the decade when
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  Speaker 1: it floats on the Australian Stock Exchange in the coming months.
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  Speaker 1: It has plans to build five more data centres by
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  Speaker 1: the end of 2028, part of a wave of technology
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  Speaker 1: infrastructure that the government is hoping will prod Australia's sluggish
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  Speaker 1: economy into life. There are trade-offs though. The AI giants
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  Speaker 1: like Anthropic and OpenAI are aggressively lobbying the Australian government.
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  Speaker 1: to allow them to take all creative works, including books, music, architecture,
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  Speaker 1: journalism and everything else created by Australians, without having to
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  Speaker 1: pay any kind of licence or copyright fee. In Mexico,
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  Speaker 1: the trial of men accused of murdering two Australian surfers
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  Speaker 1: in 2024 has begun. Jake and Callum Robinson. Both aged
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  Speaker 1: in their early 30s and their American friend Jack Carter-Rode
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  Speaker 1: were shot dead in Baja, California in Mexico in 2024.
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  Speaker 1: Three men are accused of killing the Robinsons and Rode
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  Speaker 1: and dumping their bodies in a clifftop shaft. Prosecutors say
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  Speaker 1: the alleged killings occurred during a bungled robbery attempt. The defendants,
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  Speaker 1: whose identities have been suppressed, rejected plea deals that would
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  Speaker 1: have seen them serve jail terms of more than four decades.
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  Speaker 1: Prosecutors are seeking 210-year sentences for two of the accused
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  Speaker 1: killers and 168 years for the third. The former girlfriend
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  Speaker 1: of one of the accused pleaded guilty in 2025 to
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  Speaker 1: instigating the robbery attempt. She's been sentenced to 20 years
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  Speaker 1: in prison. Parents Martin and Deborah Robinson travelled to Ensenada
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  Speaker 1: in Mexico for the trial. One of Sydney's most famous
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  Speaker 1: mansions is back on the market with a $ 100 million
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  Speaker 1: price tag. The heritage-listed property known as Boomerang last sold
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  Speaker 1: for $ 80 million a couple of years ago. Now, rumour
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  Speaker 1: has it, real estate agents are showing the iconic Elizabeth
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  Speaker 1: Bay home to potential buyers once more. Check out those
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  Speaker 1: stories live right now at theaustralian.com.au. And come back to
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  Speaker 1: the front first thing in the morning for our look
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  Speaker 1: at the latest drama engulfing One Nation. this time in Victoria,
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  Speaker 1: where State Leader Warren Pickering is facing allegations he says
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  Speaker 1: are prompted by a bitter ex-partner. That's right here Wednesday morning.