Police pick up Porsche from antisemitic puppeteer
Police have been allowed to seize and sell a Porsche owned by a man who pulled the strings on a series of anti-Semitic firebombings and graffiti attacks.
Alex Ryvchin’s former home after the attack
A man jailed for hiring others to carry out a series of antisemitic attacks has been further punished, with police allowed to drive away with his Porsche.
Nicholas James Alexander, 32, was sentenced to five years behind bars in March after he admitted directing others to target Sydney’s Jewish community through graffiti and firebombings in January 2025.
His crimes included ordering arson attacks on a childcare centre and cars outside the former home of Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief Alex Ryvchin.
An appeal against his sentence was dismissed in May.
Alexander suffered a further legal hit on Thursday after a judge at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court allowed NSW Police to seize his 2014 black Porsche Macan coupe as proceeds of crime.
Court documents seen by AAP estimate the vehicle’s value at $31,000.
Officers have permission to dispose of or sell the vehicle as they see fit.
Alexander occupied a senior and important role in the January 2025 attacks that were designed to target the Sydney Jewish community and engender fear for their safety, the NSW District Court found in May.
He organised for stolen cars to be used in the attacks, explained how to make and use Molotov cocktails, arranged for handguns to be passed on, and coordinated drop-off points.
Before an attack on a synagogue in Sydney’s Newtown, the 32-year-old instructed a co-offender to tell police if he was caught that Muslims made him do it to pay off a drug debt.
He used a deliberate tactic to divide Arab and Jewish communities to further the aims of the criminal group overseas, the court found.
Arguments that Alexander had merely been transmitting instructions from overseas actors were rejected because they ignored the extent of his involvement in the attacks and his influence over those he hired.
The court found he had been motivated by financial reward and a desire to win the favour of those in control of the overseas criminal group, rather than racial hatred.
Alexander will be eligible for parole in July 2028.
By: Miklos Bolza and Adelaide Lang/AAP
