Barossa Valley man Scott Tolhurst sentenced for $900k wine scam to fuel gambling addiction

A once successful Barossa Valley winemaker has walked free from court despite scamming close to $1m from a company to fuel his addiction.

A former Barossa Valley winemaker has narrowly dodged jail after he made the “incomprehensible” decision to defraud a company to fuel his sinister secret.

Scott Gregory Tolhurst, 54, of Light Pass, walked free from court for swindling close to $1m at the peak of his gambling addiction.

During sentencing on Friday, the District Court heard Tolhurst was the sole director of Bull & Bear Vineyards in 2018, a company which would onsell wine.

Tolhurst entered into a contract with Vintage Clusters to supply 6.9m litres for 9.3m – which was to be paid for in instalments and delivered by the end of February 2019.

The court heard Tolhurst deceived Vintage Clusters of $900,000 between August and September 2018.

Scott Tolhurst leaving the Adelaide Magistrates Court after an earlier appearance. Photo: NCA NewsWire/Brenton Edwards

Scott Tolhurst was sentenced to home detention. Photo: NCA NewsWire/Brenton Edwards

In October 2018, Tolhurst candidly told the Director of Vintage Clusters he had diverted the money to his personal accounts and spent the entire sum on online gambling.

“From that point your life essentially unravelled, your business was wound up, you were declared bankrupt, you lost your family home,” Judge Kris Handshin said.

The court heard Vintage Clusters suffered a total financial loss of $5.7m but after negotiations, Tolhurst pleaded guilty to two counts of deception, relating to the amount of $900,000.

The court heard gambling became a form of escapism for Tolhurst to deal with the pressures of his work and he started gambling larger and larger amounts.

“Around the time of your offending you were gambling obscene amounts of money – sometimes up to $500,000 per day,” Judge Handshin said.

Lindy Powell KC, for Tolhurst, previously told the court she hadn’t encountered a case in her 50 years of practice where an offender had rehabilitated themselves such as Tolhurst had.

The court heard Tolhurst previously worked as a Chief Operation Officer for a winemaker before becoming a wine supplier and serving as the vice president of the South Australian wine industry association.

The court heard Tolhurst, who has been unable to make financial restitution to the company, now looked after the children while his partner was the primary breadwinner.

Judge Handshin said Tolhurst’s “incomprehensible” decision had lost him the respect of local community members who previously held him in high regard.

He sentenced Tolhurst to five years and one month jail, with a non-parole period of two years and eight months.

Due to Tolhurst’s remorse and extensive rehabilitation efforts, he was ordered to serve the sentence on home detention.