Erina: Disgraced accountant Gavin Lawrence Swan ’targeted’ 128 vulnerable victims to steal $600k

A disgraced accountant, who ripped off 128 clients to the tune of nearly $600,000, has admitted on the witness stand he targeted vulnerable people who wouldn’t “ask questions”.

Gavin Swan leaves Gosford Local Court after a previous appearance. Picture: Richard Noone

One of Australia’s most trusted accountants has admitted he preyed on vulnerable clients, who wouldn’t “ask questions” when he diddled them out of their tax returns or Covid benefits.

Gavin Lawrence Swan, of Green Point on the Central Coast, faced Gosford District Court on Friday after pleading guilty to 33 counts of fraud and one count of dealing with proceeds of crime.

The 56-year-old took the witness stand during his sentence hearing and told the court he was “absolutely devastated” and “appalled” by his “behaviours and poor choices”, which were not reflective of “who I am now”.

But under cross-examination, Swan admitted he got an “adrenaline or dopamine hit” from defrauding clients and the money he swindled helped maintain his affluent lifestyle, including a large family home at Green Point and his $100,000 Mercedes.

He said the moment police came knocking on his door on March 10, 2022, he decided to tell the truth and wanted to pay his victims back from the outset.

Former accountant Gavin Swan outside court after a previous appearance. Picture: NewsLocal

However, on the witness stand he conceded he grossly downplayed his level of offending in his first interview with police, in which he said he defrauded about 75 clients over the course of five years.

In reality, the court heard Swan had defrauded 128 clients to the value of $599,000 over about nine years.

Long history: David Swan had been an accountant on the Central Coast for more than 20 years. Picture: Mark Scott

Asked directly if he targeted vulnerable clients, “who would not ask any questions”, Swan replied “yes”.

Ironically, Swan was supposed to be sentenced earlier this year but accounting “anomalies” led to confusion over how much he had actually defrauded his clients.

Originally, an Australian Taxation Office (ATO) investigator totalled Swan’s fraud at about $580,000. However, on review, the amount was found to be about $19,000 more.

The court heard Swan ran his successful Erina practice — Absolute Accounting Services — for 22 years and defrauded clients of their personal income tax returns and JobKeeper payments, while ripping off small business owners of their GST and other Covid entitlements.

In February 2022, the ATO alerted police to suspicious payments to Swan’s personal accounts, before officers attached to the State Crime Command’s Strike Force Windorra raided Absolute Accounting’s Erina offices.

With the help of ATO officers, police identified a single IP address, which was “linked to all the relevant (fraudulent) transactions”.

“The payments were intended for clients of Absolute Accounting but were directed to personal accounts of the offender without the knowledge or consent of the client,” the facts state.

Swan has been remanded in custody since pleading guilty last November.

Judge Timothy Gartlemann will sentence him at a later date.