Paul Hogan’s former accountant Anthony Stewart charged over alleged $25m tax dodge in the US

Anthony Stewart, who was Paul Hogan’s accountant, is facing up to five years behind bars if he is convicted of the alleged conspiracy to defraud the US.

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The Australian accountant embroiled in Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan’s years-long battle with the tax office has been charged with helping an award-winning Hollywood producer hide millions of dollars in secretive offshore accounts.

The alleged multi-decade tax conspiracy was revealed in criminal charges laid last week by the US government against accountant Anthony Stewart and producer Nigel Sinclair, whose credits include Sliding Doors, The Ides of March and End of Watch.

Mr Stewart is accused of helping Mr Sinclair stash $US25m in Swiss bank accounts, which the producer then allegedly used to start a new film production company, travel on private jets, build a holiday house, and buy an $US800,000 guitar owned by a famous rock musician.

According to the 45-page indictment, Mr Sinclair and other unnamed co-conspirators communicated on burner phones, used devices designed to block electronic surveillance, and destroyed documents about the offshore funds.

Anthony Stewart, who was Paul Hogan's accountant, is facing up to five years behind bars if he is convicted of the alleged conspiracy to defraud the US. Picture: Justin Lloyd

During a 2005 trip to Geneva – the purpose of which was allegedly concealed by false minutes created by Mr Stewart – Mr Sinclair and a co-conspirator allegedly tore up files and flushed them down the toilet.

The US investigation stemmed from Operation Wickenby, Australia’s most high-profile tax probe that was ignited by a 2004 raid on a Melbourne hotel room in which authorities seized the laptop of Philip Egglishaw, a principal of Swiss tax advisory firm Strachans.

The files on the laptop led to dozens of convictions including music industry veteran Glenn Wheatley, as well as the Australian Taxation Office’s eight-year tussle over $150m in allegedly unpaid taxes from Hogan and his collaborator John Cornell.

Hogan is not involved in the case.

In 2017, then-ATO commissioner Chris Jordan implied Hogan paid tens of millions of dollars to settle the dispute, which the actor said was “absolute crap” as he maintained multiple investigations “found that I had done nothing”.

Mr Stewart, who was Hogan’s accountant, is now facing up to five years behind bars if he is convicted of the alleged conspiracy to defraud the US.

Paul Hogan pictured with Anthony Stewart, rear, who was the Crocodile Dundee star’s accountant.

When this masthead approached Mr Stewart for comment in Sydney on Thursday, he said: “I deny it mate. Speak to my lawyer.”

His lawyer later said: “Mr Stewart denies the charges.”

The lawyer then referred this masthead to a statement by attorneys for Mr Sinclair which said the US “government simply misunderstands the decades-long arrangements involved in Mr Sinclair’s successful businesses.”

Mr Sinclair “firmly and vehemently denies the wrongdoing alleged and has paid all taxes due on sums received,” the US attorneys said.

According to the indictment, Mr Stewart and Mr Sinclair began acting as accountant and attorney from the early 1990s for Australians “who were well-known in the entertainment industry” and had hired Strachans.

Mr Stewart then allegedly helped Mr Sinclair and an unidentified co-conspirator disguise their full stake in a production company through an entity based in Malta, later reaping the pair a combined $US50m when it went public which Mr Sinclair did not report or pay tax on.

When Mr Sinclair and his co-conspirator later set up a new production company, they again allegedly hid their real ownership stake, with Mr Stewart allegedly helping “maintain the fiction” by representing a “purported third-party investor” at board meetings.

According to the indictment, the Australian accountant was allegedly paid about $US100,000 a year from the offshore funds for his services between 2003 and 2013.

Mr Sinclair and his unidentified co-conspirator allegedly spent years creating a false narrative backed by fake documents to tell authorities if they were questioned, which the co-conspirator used in a grand jury investigation in the US in 2020.

Originally published as Paul Hogan’s former accountant Anthony Stewart charged over alleged $25m tax dodge in the US