ATO fraudster Todd Ryan showed ‘complete absence of remorse’ for $333,000 scam, according to District Court judge

An ATO fraudster with narcissistic personality disorder has shown a “complete absence of remorse” over his crimes, a judge has said.

A fraudster who scammed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Commonwealth Government has been slammed by a District Court judge who said he had shown “a complete absence of remorse or contrition”.

Todd Patrick Richard Ryan was found guilty at trial of 13 counts of dishonestly obtaining an advantage from the Commonwealth and two counts of attempting to obtain an advantage.

All up, Ryan scammed $330,235 and attempted to rip off another $75,685 by creating fake businesses and claiming GST for millions of dollars in fictitious sales.

Todd Ryan and Amy Hill were found guilty of tax fraud charges.

His then partner, Amy Celia Hill, was also found guilty of five counts of dishonestly obtaining an advantage after she fell into Ryan’s orbit and became the registered director of several companies.

The complex offending, which involved the registration of companies and completion of fake business activity statements lasted for more than a year in 2011 and 2012.

The complexity of the offending combined with efforts to impede audits and an earlier mistrial led to substantial delays in the pair standing trial.

On Thursday, District Court Judge Julie McIntyre heard sentencing submissions for Ryan that had been delayed while psychological reports were prepared.

Todd Ryan was found guilty of scamming more than $330,000 from the Commonwealth.

Chris Allen, for Ryan, argued that his client was not in a position to make any reparations and the money he had received had been the result of oversight, rather than malice.

“He is in a position which deserves some mercy,” Mr Allen argued.

However, Judge McIntyre, who presided over the lengthy jury trial that found both Ryan and Hill guilty, had a different view of Ryan’s offending.

“He has shown a complete absence of remorse or contrition or even an understanding of the gravamen of the offending,” she said.

The court heard that Ryan had been diagnosed with a narcissistic personality disorder stemming from a “fragile sense of self-esteem”.

A Commonwealth prosecutor told Judge McIntyre during the submissions that the pair had deliberately frustrated audit processes and had made the investigation more complex.

Ryan had appeared to be living the high-life before Australian Federal Police came knocking at his door in March 2012.

Todd Ryan was found guilty at trial of 13 counts of dishonestly obtaining an advantage from the Commonwealth.

The former ATO worker had been fired from his part-time job shortly before, in part because of his registering of so many companies in his name.

Judge McIntyre had previously heard that Hill was a young single mother when she had met Ryan and been swept off her feet.

Craig Caldicott, for Hill, argued during submissions for his client that any sentence she received should be suspended or served on home detention so she can continue to care for her child.

The pair will be sentenced next week.