Plutus Payroll scammers and a crown prosecutor: the lawyers sent to jail for money laundering
Lawyers are opposed to new proposed Aussie laws which would force them to disclose dodgy deals. See the six lawyers and accountants convicted of money laundering offences.
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At least 19 lawyers and accountants have been implicated in money laundering crimes over the past six years, fuelling calls for new laws to bring the professions into the fight against dirty cash.
Research by advocacy group Transparency International shows that the 19 includes six lawyers and accountants who have been convicted of money laundering-related crimes since 2017.
They include two lawyers involved in the $100m Plutus Payroll scam, including corrupt former NSW Labor leader Eddie Obeid’s solicitor, Sevag Chalabian, and law firm partner Dev Menon, who on Tuesday was sentenced to at least nine years in jail.
Others on the list have either been charged with crimes or given immunity against prosecution in return for co-operating with authorities.
It comes as the Albanese government races against time to enact new laws strengthening Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter terror finance regime before the country is next tested against international standards.
Australia is one of only five countries that are members of global standards body, the Financial Action Task Force, not to have brought in so-called “tranche 2” reforms that force professionals, including lawyers, accountants and real estate agents, to report dodgy deals by their clients.
Lawyers and real estate agents have furiously opposed the move, with lawyers claiming it would trespass on their relationships with clients and real estate agents complaining of increased costs.
Australia’s financial intelligence agency, Austrac, says professionals can assist in laundering money by setting up companies or trusts, transferring or holding money – including large amounts of cash – and moving assets to third parties.
Transparency International Australia chief executive Clancy Moore said too many lawyers, real estate agents and accountants enabled money laundering, either deliberately or by turning a blind eye.
“The MCG-size gap in Australia’s anti-money laundering laws means that we are the go-to destination for foreign criminals and corrupt officials to park their dirty money,” he said.
“This allows them to hide their crimes and avoid detection.
“We need to close the gaps in our anti-money laundering laws so that real estate agents, lawyers, corporate service providers and accountants – professions that are more likely to encounter illicit money – do proper due diligence and report suspicious transactions.”
Two of the lawyers convicted of money laundering-related crimes since 2017 were part of the Plutus Payroll racket, a $100m scam in which payments that were supposed to go to the Australian Taxation Office for income tax were instead siphoned off through a complex corporate structure.
Chalabian, who formerly worked for Obeid, was last year sent to prison for at least seven and a half years for laundering $24m reaped from the Plutus scam.
Obeid is serving at least three years and 10 months in jail after being found guilty of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office in 2021. Obeid has appealed the conviction.
The second lawyer convicted over Plutus Payroll is Dev Menon, a partner at law firm Clamenz.
Investigators bugged the Clamenz boardroom in the Sydney CBD as part of a joint Federal Police and ATO investigation into the scam.
Last month, Menon was found guilty of conspiring to defraud the Commonwealth and conspiring to deal with the proceeds of crime valued at $1 million or more and on Tuesday he was sentenced to 14 years jail with a non-parole period of nine years.
Other lawyers jailed for money laundering offences include former Queensland prosecutor Roger William Griffith, who in 2021 pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering charges.
The Queensland District Court heard that he was part of a plot to buy land where a criminal syndicate grew marijuana and disguise it as a goat farm.
Five of the six professionals convicted since 2017 were lawyers and one, Philip John Scahill, was an accountant.
Scahill was jailed in 2018 for at least eight and a half years for laundering money for a cocaine-importing airport maintenance worker.
After successfully appealing, he pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of recklessly dealing with the proceeds of crime and was sentenced to three years jail. He was released last year.
Since 2017, seven lawyers have been charged with money laundering offences and have cases before the courts.
Over the same period, three other lawyers have been granted immunity from prosecution after co-operating with authorities in money laundering cases.
CRIMINAL LAWYERS (AND AN ACCOUNTANT)
Who: Sevag Chalabian, lawyer, formerly representative for Eddie Obeid, NSW
What: Money laundering, 2022, jailed
Corrupt NSW Labor premier Eddie Obeid’s former lawyer. Jailed for 12 years with a minimum of seven and a half in 2022 over his role in the vast Plutus Payroll scam, but his sentencing was suppressed until this year while other matters related to the $100m fraud were before the courts. Found guilty of dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Who: Shaune Kerry James Irving, lawyer, Moloney MacCallum Abdelshahied, Queensland
What: Money laundering, 2023, suspended sentence
Received suspended sentences in February for crimes including fraud, supplying cocaine and making false statutory declarations to get out of a speeding ticket.
Who: Dev Menon, lawyer, Clamenz Lawyers, NSW
What: Conspiring to deal in proceeds of general crime, 2023, jailed
Jailed on Tuesday for at leat nine years after being found guilty in March of conspiring to dishonestly cause a loss to the Commonwealth, and conspiring to deal with more than $1 million believing it would be the proceeds of crime, over the Plutus Payroll scam.
Who: Roger Griffith, former crown prosecutor, Queensland
What: Money laundering, 2021, jailed
Former head of Cairns office of the Queensland DPP. Jailed in December 2021 after pleading guilty to drug trafficking, attempting to pervert the course of justice, money laundering and receiving property from drug trafficking as a result of getting involved with a marijuana syndicate.
Who: Mark Leo O’Brien, lawyer, Harrington Maguire & O’Brien, NSW
What: Fraud, 2021, jailed
Jailed for 10 years in March 2021 for misappropriating $6m clients left in their wills for charities and spending the money on property, including a $3.4m home in Bondi.
Who: Philip John Scahill, accountant, Scahill & Co, NSW
What: Money laundering, 2018, jailed
Jailed for at least eight and a half years in 2018 for laundering millions of dollars on behalf of a client who was smuggling cocaine through Sydney airport. After appealing, he pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of recklessly dealing with the proceeds of crime and his sentence was reduced to three years.
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