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Erina: Disgraced accountant Gavin Lawrence Swan jailed for defrauding clients nearly $600k
The coast’s highest profile accountant has been jailed for ripping off clients in a fraud so heinous the tax office condemned it as casting a pall over his entire profession.
Central Coast Express Advocate
Richard Noone@richard_no one
September 19, 2024
Accountant Gavin Swan, 56, of Green Point, has been jailed for ripping off clients' tax returns by more than $580,000. Picture: Richard Noone
An accountant, once lauded by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), has been jailed for ripping off more than 120 clients almost $600,000 over several years.
Gavin Lawrence Swan, of Green Point, ran a successful practice Absolute Accounting Services at Erina for 22 years where he had eight staff and 1500 customers.
But a court heard the now 56-year-old grew weary of helping clients with their tax returns and small business needs and instead started helping himself to their annual rebates and Covid payments.
Swan faced Downing Centre District Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to 33 counts of fraud and one count of dealing with proceeds of crime.
He was sentenced to five years jail with a non-parole period of three years.
With time already served he will be eligible for release on November 2, 2026.
He has also been ordered to repay each of his 128 victims — many of which were among some of the lowest paid workers in the country and included retirees, widowers, librarians and nurses.
Giving evidence at his sentence hearing in August, Swan admitted to the court he got an adrenaline rush or “dopamine” hit from swindling certain vulnerable clients who he targeted because they were the ones who “wouldn’t ask questions”.
He also admitted it helped him maintain his affluent lifestyle including a large family home at Green Point and his $100,000 Mercedes.
Swan was at the top of his game before the ATO began noticing some suspicious payments going into his direct account and the police eventually came knocking on his door on March 10, 2022.
He was without question the region’s highest profile accountant, where he hosted a tax podcast, was regularly quoted in the media and sat on various boards including the CPA NSW Public Practice and National Public Practice Advisory committees..
A year before, he received a letter from then Deputy Commissioner of Taxation Hoa Wood inviting him to co-chair the ATO Tax Practitioners Stewardship Group, a highly coveted advisory group providing strategic discussions to improve tax in Australia.
But the higher he soared, the greater his swan dive telling a court his highlights these days in custody included avoiding being assaulted and helping fellow inmates learn how to read.
ATO Assistant Commissioner Jade Hawkins condemned the accountant’s deceitful behaviour, which cast a pall over the entire profession.
“Mr Swan was in a position of trust within the community, and he exploited it,” Ms Hawkins said.
“Tax professionals play an integral role in supporting the tax and super systems and we, alongside the Tax Practitioners Board, will take action against those who threaten the integrity of the system.”
She said the accounting profession was working hard to hold “dishonest tax agents accountable” and protect the integrity of Australia’s tax system.
“Tax agents who do not meet professional standards are gaining unfair advantage over others who do the right thing,” she said.
