Bill Papas business partner denies hiding hundreds of thousands of dollars from court

The business partner of Bill Papas who received some of the proceeds of an alleged $500 million fraud on banking giant Westpac and two other lenders has hit back at suggestions he tried to hide assets from the court.

Vince Tesoriero, a 40-year-old race-car driving cafe owner from Melbourne, was cross-examined at the Federal Court in Sydney on Tuesday after Westpac raised concerns he had not properly disclosed to the court his assets and income as a part of proceedings.

Vince Tesoriero leaves court on Tuesday evening. Credit: Rhett Wyman

Tesoriero was dressed in a tailored dark suit and attended court with his girlfriend for his first appearance in the case brought against Papas and his associates in June last year.

Westpac has alleged Tesoriero, who was a former director of Forum Finance and friend of Papas, has received more than $28 million in cash from Papas that was the proceeds of fraud allegedly orchestrated by Papas against the bank.

The bank has also alleged that Tesoriero made significant property investments with Papas using the proceeds of fraud. Westpac alleges Tesoriero was aware, or should have been aware, of Papas’s fraud and is seeking to claw back tens of millions in cash and property allegedly acquired with the bank’s money.

Westpac used Tuesday’s hearing to pick apart disclosures Tesoriero, who is subject to freezing orders as part of the civil proceeding, had made to the court as part of the pre-trial procedures for the case.

This included why he had failed to report the $150,841.76 in cash that was held in an account that was receiving rent payments for a portfolio of petrol stations in country Victoria. The court heard that this income had been received in July this year but had not been included in his disclosures.

The Age and Sydney Morning Herald previously revealed Tesoriero and Papas had built up a $60 million-plus property portfolio that included several country petrol stations. The duo also allegedly used money taken from Westpac to buy Tesoriero’s $10 million-plus stately residence in Hawthorn and two high-end holiday homes in Wagstaffe, in greater Sydney.

“You don’t believe money in a bank account is an asset?” Jeremy Giles, SC, for Westpac, asked Tesoriero.

The Melburnian businessman responded: “It’s not if interest is going to be paid the next day.”

Giles then asked, “Is his honour meant to take it seriously?”

“I take it seriously,” Tesoriero shot back.

A clearly agitated Giles then asked: “Do you have money in any other bank account as of at today?”

Tesoriero responded: “Nothing of significance,” before adding there would be money in other accounts that may not have been included in his disclosures to the court.

Tesoriero’s legal team then agreed to go through each of his 29 bank accounts and reveal the balances of each account and to update the court accordingly.

The punchy exchange occurred after Tesoriero had rushed to the court hearing in Sydney from Melbourne with just a few hours’ notice after he and his legal team were ordered to appear in person after mistakenly believing he would be allowed to give evidence interstate via an online link.

Tesoriero has long denied having any involvement in Papas’s alleged fraud. He has claimed that the money he received from Forum and Papas was repayment for cash injections he made into the Forum business when it was in its infancy.

Tesoriero will continue his evidence tomorrow.