At the time of his arrest Mr Ibrahim was attempting to recover millions of dollars he had allegedly advanced to brothel madam Jamelie Lahood.

Mr Ibrahim, who has recently been extradited from Dubai, has been freed on $2 million bail, with a court ordering he live under effective house arrest at his Dover Heights clifftop mansion.

The 43-year-old was one of 18 people arrested by the Australian Federal Police and state police early last month during raids in Australia and the United Arab Emirates over alleged drug and tobacco importation rings.

Mr Ibrahim's house, only a few hundred meters along the cliff top from that of his older brother John's, was purchased in early 2014 for $4 million.

Title deeds show it's owned by DI Developments, a company started in 2003 by Donny Ibrahim, now known as Fadi Ibrahim.

The company's two owners are Fadi and Benjamin Andrew Scott, the co-owner of pawn-broking chain Aceben. Only three weeks before Fadi Ibrahim was arrested in Dubai, Mr Scott resigned as a director and, on the same day a Benjamin Istvan, who shares the same birthday as Mr Scott, was appointed company secretary.

Mr Scott, 38, is also a business partner of radio personality Kyle Sandilands. The duo are investors in Meet The Hockers, an eight-part TV series featuring the tribulations of the pawn world, which was produced and narrated by Sandilands.

Search warrants related to the drug importation were executed at Mr Scott's Vaucluse house at the time of the arrests but Mr Scott has not been charged with any offence.

The AFP has slapped an order on the title of the Dover Heights mansion preventing the disposal of the home. The funds in DI Developments' Commonwealth Bank account have also been frozen.

Prosecutor Matthew Kalyk said Mr Ibrahim posed an "unacceptable risk" of fleeing Australia and of communicating with witnesses involved in the high-profile case, noting a conviction for interfering with witnesses.

Mr Kalyk said Mr Ibrahim was the director of several sophisticated companies, worth $7 million and had many associates in organised crime.

The court heard Mr Ibrahim is accused of drawing from his mortgage and sending money to his brother Michael "towards the importation of tobacco" through three separate transactions and intermediaries.

He then allegedly received $1.6 million in return, via the same channels including the bank accounts of his companies.

"There's a statement from Michael Ibrahim that [Fadi] invested in transactions that led to a doubling of his money," Mr Kalyk told court.

Mr Kalyk said Mr Ibrahim was not a "passive lender".

"[He was] an active investor in his brother's operation. They're brothers, they have a close relationship, the transfer is a very large amount of money," Mr Kalyk said.

"This applicant is not a fool, he's a director of a number of companies with a large amount of assets to his name and owns a substantial property."

The court heard telephone intercepts recorded Mr Ibrahim complaining "that he was not being made a partner" in Michael Ibrahim's operation.

Fadi Ibrahim's barrister Phillip Boulten, SC, said his client was not charged with serious offences including conspiracy, nor any charges related to drugs.

Mr Boulten said the money came from Mr Ibrahim's own St George Bank account.

"That is a very, very unusual starting point for a prosecution who are going to allege it was used as an instrument of crime." Mr Boulten said.

Money transfers in the alleged syndicate included $4.6 million in cash between November 2016 and March, and $2.25 million put together by Michael Ibrahim in the course of just a few days, the court heard.

One of the financial intermediaries, Jaron Chester, had his hair and eyebrows removed when allegedly caught skimming money from the transfers, courts have previously heard.

Michael, 39, has been charged with more than a dozen offences, including attempting to import a commercial quantity of drugs, and conspiracy to do the same.

Fadi, 43, is charged with dealing in the proceeds of crime, in excess of $1 million, and use of money intended as an "instrument of crime".

Magistrate Les Mabbutt granted bail, noting Mr Ibrahim had medical issues stemming from being repeatedly shot in 2009, had offered substantial surety, and was not facing charges as serious as those of his co-accused.

Underworld figure Mostafa Dib, 34, was extradited for his role in the alleged Ibrahim network, which police targeted through Operation Veyda.

Mr Dib is charged with attempting to important a commercial quantity of drugs, and conspiracy to do the same.

Australian man Koder Jomaa, a 47-year-old UAE resident arrested as part of the separate police operation Astatine, was also brought back to Australia, and is facing the same charges as Mr Dib.

Operation Astatine uncovered a network allegedly connected to the importation of 200 kilograms of MDMA and 15 million illegal cigarettes and led to 10 arrests, including two of officials who had worked for the Australian Border Force or Customs.