Alan Bond, the high flying businessman who dominated Australian headlines in the 1980s, has died in a Perth hospital, aged 77.

Mr Bond was best known for being the first non-American to win the once coveted America's Cup sailing trophy in 1983, and as the biggest fraudster in Australian history.

One of Australia's richest men during the 1980s, Bond's fall from grace began in 1992 when he declared bankruptcy.

He was jailed in 1997 for a $1.2 billion fraud involving his takeover of Bell Resources and was stripped of his status as Officer of the Order of Australia, which he had received 13 years earlier.

Mr Bond served three years behind bars before he was released in 2000 after a successful High Court appeal.

In 2008, BRW magazine named him among the 200 wealthiest people in Australia with an estimated wealth of $265 million.

As a 17-year-old, Mr Bond married Eileen in 1955 and they had four children together - John, Craig, Susane and Jody - before divorcing in 1992.

Susane was found dead aged 41 in her upmarket Peppermint Grove home in July 2000.

Mr Bond married theatre producer Diana Bliss in 1995, who died in 2012.