Sam Dastyari's fall from grace has come almost as quickly as his rise to political stardom.
The Iranian-born politician - appropriately nicknamed 'Dasher' - first joined the Labor Party in 2000 aged 16, and within five years was a delegate to the NSW ALP's conference and president of Young Labor in his home state.
By 2008 he had worked his way through the party ranks to become a state organiser and in 2010, having built a formidable support base in the Right faction took over as NSW ALP general secretary.
That role elevated him into the ALP national executive where he teamed up with other Right faction commanders including the current federal parliamentary leader Bill Shorten.
He also oversaw internal reforms, ordered by Kevin Rudd, to stamp out corruption in the NSW branch.
In August 2013, his dream of entering parliament came true when he filled the casual Senate vacancy left by colleague Matt Thistlethwaite, who ran for a lower house seat.
He said just before taking his seat that it was an "amazing opportunity".
"It would allow me to focus on my true passion, which has never been machine politics but policy."
One of his first tasks was chipping away the Abbott government's economic credentials through a series of parliamentary committees.
For his efforts, he was rewarded in 2015 with the roles of deputy manager of opposition business in the Senate and shadow parliamentary secretary to the leader of the opposition.
However, his first big political slip-up was accepting an offer by a company with links to the Chinese government to pay a travel bill.
He admitted on reflection he should have paid the bill himself.
Within days he was caught out for not declaring two bottles of wine worth $700 from Chinese donors.
Coalition headkickers accused Dastyari of allowing Chinese money to influence his comments on China, reflected most vividly in his comment during the 2016 election campaign that "The South China Sea is China's own affair, Australia should remain neutral and respect China on this matter".
It put Dastyari at odds with the Labor and coalition stances on the South China Sea.
Having been promoted to the shadow outer ministry and manager of opposition business in the Senate after the election, he was forced to quit as the pressure on the party became too great.
Shorten began the rehabilitation of his factional colleague in February this year by making Dastyari deputy opposition whip in the Senate.
But a series of reports setting out a pattern of behaviour described by the government as akin to being a "double agent" brought his second comeback to an end.
Most damaging were revelations that he may have tipped off Communist Party-aligned businessman Huang Xiangmao that his phone was probably being tapped by Australian intelligence agencies.
Dastyari insisted on Tuesday he's always acted with integrity and remains a "loyal, patriotic Australian".
But he's done his dash.
