{"id":2474,"date":"2023-07-10T17:00:09","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T07:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wiselinkaccountants.com.au\/?p=2474"},"modified":"2024-05-14T14:44:25","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T04:44:25","slug":"tax-accountant-melbournea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wiselinkaccountants.com.au\/zh-hans\/tax-accountant-melbournea\/","title":{"rendered":"PAYROLL TAX FRAUD"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/span>\"tax
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tax accountant melbourne<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

DON’T GET SCAMMED<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The accountant-lawyer at the centre of the $105 million Plutus Payroll tax scam has been sentenced to 14 years jail following a guilty verdict in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dev Menon, the man described as \u201cpivotal\u201d to an operation which siphoned off millions owed to the ATO, had \u201cabused his position\u201d as a solicitor for the benefit of criminals, Justice Anthony Payne told NSW Supreme Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was involved for long hours and exercised his legal skills to give effect to the conspiracies,\u201d Justice Payne said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHis behaviour in accepting funds \u2026 which should have been paid to the ATO is thoroughly discreditable conduct for a solicitor to engage in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Plutus Payroll scam began with five conspirators in 2014 and attracted legitimate clients with a fee-free service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Money meant for the ATO \u2013 including PAYG and superannuation funds \u2013 was then laundered through second-tier companies run by straw directors who were \u201cvulnerable\u201d and drug-affected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Payne found Menon became a knowing participant in the scheme from June 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Menon\u2019s role \u201cvaried and increased dramatically\u201d over time but it included setting up a \u201cpotential safe harbour\u201d by suggesting Plutus pay more tax to avoid detection, managing the straw directors and having them sign documentation knowing it would expose them to risk, and participating in meetings where the conspiracy was discussed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also told co-conspirators to add him to discussions so they could use legal professional privilege to conceal information, gave out advice about avoiding payroll detection, drafted legal documents to facilitate key transactions, and assisted with the destruction of evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When one of the original co-conspirators, Peter Larcombe, was found dead in Los Angeles, Menon was captured on a police recording suggesting to Adam and Lauren Cranston \u2013 the children of then-ATO deputy commissioner Michael Cranston, who was not alleged to be involved in the scam \u2013 to blame everything on Mr Larcombe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile not an architect of the scheme, he was a very close and trusted adviser,\u201d Justice Payne found. \u201cAs the scheme progressed over time and particularly as the scheme threatened to unravel \u2026 Menon\u2019s role became pivotal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Februrary 2017, Comanchero-associate Daniel Rostankovski, who was brought in to recruit the straw directors, turned on the conspirators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Rostankovski threatened violence and to expose the scheme unless the co-conspirators handed over $5 million. After he received this, he then demanded a further $20 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conspirators paid the money into a trust account operated by Eddie Obeid\u2019s lawyer Sevag Chalabian, who was sentenced to 12 years\u2019 imprisonment last year for his part in facilitating the blackmail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Payne said while Menon was fearful of the threats of violence, he used the blackmail to his advantage to keep the crimes concealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe payment was not made under duress (but was) principally to avoid detection of the crimes of Menon and the co-conspirators,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Menon regularly advised the co-conspirators on ways to keep their scam secret, including introducing hackers into the system to \u201ccrash the whole thing\u201d, erasing messages and emails, and suggesting possible defences if they were charged with a crime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Menon was \u201cnot principally operated by greed\u201d but had been set to receive $248,000 in shares prior to his arrest in May 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court heard while Menon may be able to return to an accountancy role, his job in the legal profession is over. His non-parole period is set at nine years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

tax accountant melbourne<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DON’T GET SCAMMED The accountant-lawyer at the centre of the $105 million Plutus Payroll tax scam has been sentenc […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17,98,61,18,19,20,97,1,21],"tags":[85,84,82,83],"class_list":["post-2474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-topics","category-business-solutions","category-digital-game","category-english-post","category-business","category-market-research","category-professional-planning","category-registreration","category-uncategorised","category-world-of-business","tag-business-gst","tag-business-tax","tag-gst-credits","tag-reimbursements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wiselinkaccountants.com.au\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wiselinkaccountants.com.au\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wiselinkaccountants.com.au\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiselinkaccountants.com.au\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiselinkaccountants.com.au\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2474"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wiselinkaccountants.com.au\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2625,"href":"https:\/\/wiselinkaccountants.com.au\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2474\/revisions\/2625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiselinkaccountants.com.au\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wiselinkaccountants.com.au\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiselinkaccountants.com.au\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wiselinkaccountants.com.au\/zh-hans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}