Sunday, November 05, 2023

Victorian Liberal frontbencher Richard Riordan estranged brother Anthony charged with tax fraud

 The first men walking on taxing and silicon earth behaving badlyPaul Wagstaff

 

Silicon Valley is the Church of Moore’s LawCrooked Timber. “The digerati have been propping up the corpse of Moore’s Law, Weekend at Bernie’s-style, for years now.” So no wonder all the fraud.



Watch out for the red flags that indicate insider fraud - Tom Stocker

An admin assistant who embezzled more than £1.5 million from her Aberdeen employer was jailed last month for three years and four months

The road to a successful cyberattack often leads through an organization's employees, since they already have authenticated access (perhaps to highly sensitive data), and they have intimate knowledge of the organization, its people, processes, and technology.

Sometimes, attackers use employees unwittingly, deploying social engineering to trick them into providing access. Other times, insiders knowingly partner with external attackers, selling access or data for cash. Insider threats have impacted a number of worldwide brands–one of the most noteworthy being a large healthcare firm where an employee stole data belonging to over 500,000 customers from its CRM system and attempted to sell it on the dark web. Similarly, in 2021, authorities charged an employee at a large telecom company for providing SIM swaps to threat actors for $500 apiece.

Insiders can also willingly share sensitive and proprietary data when motivated by ideological reasons. Recently, two Tesla employees leaked data about self-driving features to a German newspaper. The shared data also included personal information of over 75,000 Tesla customers.





Victorian Liberal frontbencher Richard Riordan estranged brother Anthony charged with tax fraud

The estranged brother of Victorian Liberal frontbencher Richard Riordan has been charged with tax fraud — three months after being charged with stalking.

Aneeka Simonis
@AneekaSimonis
2 min read
November 6, 2023 - 2:08PM
Liberal frontbencher Richard Riordan’s estranged brother has been charged with a $1.6m tax fraud. Picture: Brad Fleet
Liberal frontbencher Richard Riordan’s estranged brother has been charged with a $1.6m tax fraud. Picture: Brad Fleet
    The estranged brother of Victorian Liberal frontbencher Richard Riordan has been charged with a $1.6m tax fraud. 
    The Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday heard Anthony Riordan, 47, was this week hit with 41 fresh charges related to GST frauds involving seven companies and a family trust fund. 
    The Brighton man is already facing serious stalking and theft offences which could see him jailed for 10 years if found guilty.
    Charge sheets reveal that between July 2021 and May 2022 Mr Riordan allegedly lodged numerous false statements to the Australian Taxation Office in order to obtain a financial advantage, namely GST refunds. 
    The companies embroiled in his alleged criminal activity include Meriton Group Western Australia Pty Ltd, Collett Swallow Property Developments Australasia, Car Assist Australia, APHR Pest Control, Evolution Exploration and Mining Australia, GWTE Earthmoving and Excavation and Mroue & Smith International Food Company. 
    Charge sheets allege Mr Riordan dealt in proceeds of crime – GST refunds – with a total value of $1.6 million. 
    The financial crime squad investigation also ensnared 21-year-old Colac man Zachary Matheson. 
    Mr Matheson is accused of aiding and abetting in GST frauds valued at more than $600,000 between February and May last year. 
    Both men are on bail, with Mr Riordan required to report to Bayside police station three times a week and Mr Matheson weekly at Colac police station. 
    In August it was revealed Mr Riordan had been charged with two counts of stalking.
    It was alleged he installed a tracking device to the car of his victim “with the intention of arousing apprehension in the victim for his own safety” on January 24 or 25 last year.
    He was accused of “staking out the victim’s place of business” and “conducting physical surveillance on the victim” in Geelong suburb Breakwater around the same time.
    Police also charged him with the theft of a white 2018 LandCruiser worth $100,000 and a white horse float worth $15,000 at Cape Schanck on the other side of Port Phillip Bay on January 25, 2022. 
    Mr Riordan’s brother Richard has since 2015 been the member for Polwarth, covering the Colac and Corangamite area.
    Before that, Richard Riordan ran his family’s hardware business in Colac and was a government appointed board member of Colac Area Health.
    Last November he ran for leadership of the state Liberals but pulled out in favour of Brad Battin, who went on to lose to current leader John Pesutto.
    Richard Riordan is currently the shadow minister for emergency services and housing.
    He is no longer in contact with his brother. 
    Anthony Riordan and Mr Matheson will next face court on February 9 next year.
    EDITORS NOTE: An earlier version of this article referenced east coast apartment giant Meriton Group as being embroiled in Mr Riordan’s criminal activity. This is not correct and the Sydney-based property company has no involvement whatsoever with Mr Riordan.