Adam Cranston, Dev Menon, and Jason Onley were found guilty of conspiring to defraud the Commonwealth and conspiring to deal with the proceeds of crime valued at $1 million or more. The maximum penalty they face after being convicted of conspiring to deal in proceeds of crime valued at $1 million or more is 25 years’ imprisonment.
A total of 16 people were charged as part of the AFP-led investigation codenamed Operation Elbrus that began in 2016 and received significant assistance from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) as part of the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce (SFCT).
The investigation exposed large-scale and organised tax fraud and money laundering conspiracies that used payroll service entities to divert monies payable to the ATO as Pay-As-You-Go withholding (PAYGW) tax and goods and services tax (GST). All matters were prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
“Taxation fraud investigations are inherently complex, but the scale and breadth of alleged criminal offending we identified in this matter made it a more challenging task,” Assistant Commissioner Kirsty Schofield said.
“It is important we see matters such as this through to a final result in court and show that Australians will not tolerate this type of organised criminal activity that ultimately steals from us all.”
“This isn’t the case of an accidental oversight — this was blatant and deliberate fraud that robbed the Australian community,” Acting Deputy Commissioner and SFCT Chief John Ford said.
Sentencing outcomes for Operation Elbrus:
- Simon Anquetil, one of the founders of the payroll services company Plutus Payroll and one of the architects of the fraudulent scheme, pleaded guilty in November 2019 to conspiring to defraud the Commonwealth and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime with a value of $1 million or more. He was sentenced to seven years and six months’ jail on 31 July 2020, with a non-parole period of five years.
- Joshua Kitson, the former general manager of Plutus Payroll, entered a guilty plea to conspiring to defraud the Commonwealth in November 2018 and was sentenced to four years and six months’ jail in August 2019, with a non-parole period of three years.
- Aaron Paul entered a guilty plea in June 2019 for dealing in proceeds of crime in excess of $100,000. He was sentenced to three years and four months’ jail in February 2020, with a non-parole period of two years.
- Paul O’Leary, entered a guilty plea on 20 August 2019 for negligently dealing in proceeds of crime with a value of $1 million or more. He was sentenced to jail for three years and three months in June 2020, with a minimum period of one year and four months that was later reduced on appeal to two years with a minimum period of one year and one month.
- Devyn Hammond, entered a guilty plea on 15 November 2019 for conspiring with others to defraud the Commonwealth and conspiring to knowingly deal in the proceeds of crime with a value of $1,000,000 or more. She was sentenced to four years’ jail in July 2020, with a non-parole period of two years and six months.
A number of court matters arising out of Operation Elbrus remain ongoing.
