Adam Cranston and two others found guilty in Plutus tax fraud trial
After a nine-month trial and almost two months of deliberation, a jury has found Adam Cranston and two of his key co-conspirators guilty of one of the biggest tax frauds in Australia’s corporate history.
The NSW Supreme Court jury on Tuesday morning delivered guilty verdicts to three of the five co-accused, including Adam Cranston, 36 – son of former deputy tax commissioner Michael Cranston – lawyer Dev Menon, 39, and former sports commentator Jason Onley, 52.
Son of former ATO deputy commissioner found guilty over role in $105m tax fraud
Adam Cranston, the son of former ATO deputy commissioner Michael Cranston, has been found guilty by a NSW Supreme Court jury over his role in a $105 million tax-fraud scheme.
After close to two months of jury deliberations, guilty verdicts were today handed to Adam Cranston, and two co-accused, Dev Menon and Jason Onley.
They were found guilty of conspiring with another person to dishonestly cause a loss to the Commonwealth, and conspiring with another person to deal with money more than $1 million, believing it to be proceeds of crime.
The jury continues to deliberate for two other co-accused, including Lauren Cranston, who is the daughter of the former ATO deputy commissioner.
There is no suggestion Michael Cranston was involved in any wrongdoing.
More to come.
Son of ex-ATO executive and two other swindlers are found GUILTY of elaborate $100M tax fraud used to fund luxury life of cars, aircraft, houses, jewellery and artwork
The son of a former high-ranking Tax Office official is among three people found guilty of taking part in a $105 million tax fraud scheme in which participants spent millions on luxury properties, cars and boats.
Adam Michael Cranston, 36, Lauren Anne Cranston, 30, Dev Menon, 39, Jason Cornell Onley, 52, and Patrick Willmott, 36, faced trial in the NSW Supreme Court after each pleaded not guilty to two charges: conspiring to dishonestly cause a loss to the Commonwealth, and conspiring to deal with more than $1 million believing it would be the proceeds of crime.
The Cranston siblings are the children of former ATO deputy commissioner Michael Cranston, who the jury was told was not accused of any wrongdoing.
The nine-month trial began in Sydney in April 2022 before Justice Anthony Payne, and jurors retired to consider their verdicts on January 18. On Tuesday, after almost two months of deliberation, the jury found Adam Cranston, Menon and Onley guilty of both charges.
Deliberations continue for Lauren Cranston and Willmott.
The Crown had alleged the five accused agreed upon a scheme with others to not remit 100 per cent of PAYG (pay as you go) withholding tax and GST (goods and services tax) to the ATO from clients of the payroll business Plutus Payroll, and siphoned $105 million between March 2014 and May 2017.
Crown prosecutor Paul McGuire, SC, alleged Adam Cranston was a leading conspirator involved in establishing Plutus and controlling it after its purchase by his company Synep in 2016.
The Crown alleged that, to give Plutus a “squeaky clean” appearance, the tax debt was held by second-tier companies with vulnerable and drug-dependent people installed as straw directors. These companies were liquidated and replaced with new ones to continue the scheme.
Adam Cranston used Plutus money on a LandCruiser, a Mercedes, two Porsches including a Cayenne, a truck, a Cirrus plane and a Kimberley caravan, and properties at Miranda and Burraneer Bay in Sydney’s south and Vacy in the Hunter, the trial heard.
