He is said to have helped organise more than 1500 people's passage to Australia and went as far as Kenya to evade authorities.
Now a notorious Indonesian people smuggler has been sentenced to six years in prison for his role in organising the boat that Australian authorities allegedly paid more than US$30,000 to turn back in 2015.
Abraham Louhenapessy - better known as Captain Bram - was also fined 500 million rupiah (A$48,700), which he can substitute for an extra six months in prison at Rote Ndao District Court on Thursday.
Chief Judge Hiras Sitanggang said the 56-year-old offered no justification for his crime and that he had promoted immigration cases in Indonesia - where the maritime territory was "huge".
The 56-year-old self-described "entrepreneur" is the last of eight men to be sentenced over the failed venture in 2015.
One man - known as Suresh - is the only person involved who is yet to be caught.
The "mastermind" behind the trip, Vishvanathan Thineshkumar, also known as Kugan, was last year jailed for five and a half years.
The court heard Bram had been approached by Kugan in February 2015 to help organise a boat to Australia.
Bram, however, allegedly told Kugan Australia was "no longer possible" and so the planned destination was changed to New Zealand.
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Bram was given around 1.5 billion rupiah (A$150,000) to organise the boat. He also hired another man to recruit crew and a captain.
At the cost of around US$6,000 each, the 65 asylum seekers set off from Central Java on April 30, 2015, stopping at various locations across the archipelago, including West Java and Rote Island.
After leaving Rote Island - east of Bali - they were stopped twice by Australian officials.
The first time they were warned they couldn't enter Australia.
The second time, the men's trial heard Australian officials handed captain and crew $US32,000 to turn back.
Bram, who faces people smuggling charges, was fined 25 million rupiah ($A2500) in 2010 over a failed attempt to bring 254 Sri Lankan asylum seekers into Australia the previous year.
But due to a lack of smuggling laws in Indonesia at the time, he was charged with maritime offences and avoided jail.
In 2016 police said Bram fled Indonesia, heading to Thailand and Kenya to evade authorities.
He eventually returned to Jakarta where he was arrested in September last year and charged under Indonesia's new people smuggling laws.
Both Kugan and Bram received sentences well below the time requested by prosecutors who wanted Kugan to be given a 13-year term and Bram nine years.
Bram and prosecutors are considering whether they will appeal.
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