If he had been more ruthless, he says, he would be somewhere else sipping pina coladas.
But instead former Sydney art dealer Ronald Morris Coles is sitting in a jail cell awaiting sentence for running a Ponzi-style scheme which scammed his victims of nearly $6 million.
He admitted his system helped fund a lavish lifestyle that included luxury cars and gallery parties where he donated fraud money to charities.
On Friday the 66-year-old spoke at his sentence hearing, where he denied it was "calculated fraud" but admitted his system involved "robbing Peter to pay Paul".
"People made millions, but that doesn't diminish my criminality from those that lost millions," Coles told Parramatta District Court.
But he said he could have been more ruthless.
"If I wanted to, I could have gotten five, six million dollars in 24 hours and we wouldn't be here," he said.
"I could be having pina coladas right now."
Coles went on to make a string of bizarre remarks leaving several of his victims sitting in court stunned.
Coles said the Global Financial Crisis had contributed to the collapse of his scheme and that if he had more time before the media exposed him and police pounced, he could have paid his victims back.
But there were several times when he said he accepted responsibility for his crimes.
When his barrister Greg Hoare asked if he accepted that he was going to jail, he replied with "I accept that and I deserve it".
"I regret it and there's nothing I can do about it."
Coles has pleaded guilty to 15 counts of fraud that lost investors nearly $6 million.
The court heard he often used one painting as surety for multiple loans, and sold single works several times over.
Coles will be sentenced on May 2.
