Shane Hatton: Bookkeeper sentenced for stealing $1.5m from Owen, Tyler Wright and family
A former bookkeeper who defrauded pro surfer siblings Owen, Tyler and Mikey Wright and their parents of $1.5 million over a decade has been dealt her punishment.
Illawarra Star
Don't miss out on the headlines from Illawarra Star. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A former bookkeeper for a famous Australian surfing family has been jailed for more than five years after she swindled $1.5 million to fund her gambling addiction over nearly a decade.
Shane Maree Hatton was also ordered to repay a total of $647,000 to the Wright family despite the fraud amounting to much more.
The 53-year-old mother of two from Vincentia took hundreds of thousands of dollars from surf stars Owen, Tyler and Michael, as well as their parents Robert and Fiona while she was employed by them to manage their business accounts.
Hatton took advantage of her close working relationship with the family, disguising transactions from their accounts as payments for “gardening” and “cleaning” services.
She used the money to fund her gambling habits, using websites to bet on horse racing.
Judge Andrew Haesler sentenced Hatton to five years and six months behind bars and set a non-parole period of three years when she appeared in Wollongong District Court on Thursday.
She pleaded guilty to four charges of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage through deception.
He labelled her crimes as “deliberate, calculated, systematic and planned” towards each of her employers.
“Each offence individually and collectively involved a gross breach of trust, contravened the terms of her employment, involved a considerable number of transactions, caused considerable economical loss to each victim and took place over a lengthy period of time,” he said.
“She was motivated by the selfish desire to feed her gambling and she knew full well that what she was doing was wrong.
“Despite that knowledge she did nothing about it in 10 years. On the contrary, she took an active role to hide what she did.”
Judge Haesler said based on the seriousness of the crime and the financial loss of each victim that only a full time custodial sentence was appropriate.
Two victim impact statements were tendered to the court from Owen Wright and his mother Fiona, however neither were present in court to read them aloud.
Owen said once he discovered money was disappearing from his accounts he blamed his family members, believing they were stealing from him, and cut them off from parts of his life, before also blaming his wife suggesting she was “spending too much”.
He said he had damaged relationships with his family and was “emotionally worn down” by the experience; suffering sleepless nights, anger issues and anxiety.
Alarmingly, Owen spoke about his career ending traumatic brain injury he suffered in 2015 where he struggled to walk and talk.
“I wanted to retire but I couldn‘t financially (due to the impact of the offending) and fought back into my career risking my life in the process,” he said.
“I was still being stolen from while I could barely walk and while the doctors were saying I would never work again in my career.
“The physical risk I‘ve taken on to keep surfing was a choice I made because I was not financially in the position to stop my career.”
Owen said he was trying to set up a retirement plan, saving for a family home and risking his health with early onset dementia and extra head injuries because he continued to work.
He said he struggled to trust his decisions, people in his life and felt embarrassed the fraud was “happening right under my nose by someone I trusted”.
Mrs Wright spoke about how she trusted Hatton and said “we all relied on her”.
She said she felt guilty and “somehow responsible” for recommending her children use Hatton as their bookkeeper.
She added she felt angry that money had been taken from her children when they were injured and when their earning capacity as professional surfers was so short.
“Her stealing from us was a heartbreaking despicable act,” she said.
Judge Haesler noted the statements and took into account the financial loss and emotional toll Hatton’s crimes took on not only Owen and Fiona but the whole family.
Hatton’s crimes were revealed when Olympic surfer Owen confronted her after noticing suspicious transactions from his bank account relating to her fraud and a building dispute.
Owen confronted Hatton on May 28, 2020 via telephone where she told him, “I’m sorry, I’ve been gambling”.
“I’ve f’ed up and it got out of control.”
She asked him not to tell anyone until she told her husband and children about her fraud and gambling.
Wright told his siblings and parents and Hatton was frozen from all accounts.
Robert and Fiona Wright hired Hatton in 2007 as a secretary for their plumbing business, which had been operating in the Nowra area since 1986, where she paid invoices, bills and wages, agreed facts tendered to court said.
By 2009 she had access to business bank accounts.
The same year, Robert established Ozsurf Management, which provided management to Owen, and later Tyler and Mikey, in connection with their pro surfing careers. Each sibling would pay a portion of their earnings to Ozsurf.
Hatton’s responsibilities grew when she began working as a bookkeeper for the company and each of the siblings. She helped to manage their personal and work finances, the documents said.
With access to their accounts, Hatton began transferring money from their accounts to her own account, at times giving herself more than $4000 at a time.
Her first illegal transfer occurred in August 2011, when she transferred herself money from Fiona and Robert’s accounts, agreed facts said.
In 2012, she began taking money from Owen, taking more than $815,000 in 317 electronic transfers over an eight-year period, while she transferred $77,475 in 56 transactions from Robert and Fiona’s bank accounts from 2011 to 2013.
In 2014 she began defrauded Tyler transferring more than $526,000 from Tyler’s accounts and from 2015 to 2016 transferred more than $140,000 from Mikey, the documents said.
In total, Hatton made 700 transfers from the Wrights’ accounts to her own, totalling over $1.5 million.
Hatton was arrested on March 31, 2021 and charged with hundreds of offences.
The court heard Hatton assisted with the investigation when she went through her own bank accounts and highlighted the fraudulent transactions she made from each of the Wright family members’ accounts.
She told officers she “felt sick” but was “unable to stop herself”.
Hatton said she initially took the money with the intention of “borrowing” it and wanted to repay it but did not stop gambling nor repay any money until she was exposed.
The court heard Hatton had already repaid Owen $56,000 and $47,000 to Michael.
On Thursday, Judge Haesler ordered to repay Owen a further 51 per cent, Tyler 35 per cent, Michael nine per cent and Robert and Fiona 2.5 per cent each of the total $647,000 as way of victim compensation.
Judge Haesler took into account Hatton had sought treatment for her gambling addiction and had since stopped betting, and was also seeing a psychologist since she was arrested.
The court heard she started gambling because she was “bored” and used it as a coping mechanism for past trauma.
Judge Haesler noted Hatton had no prior criminal history and was considered a person of good character by her friends and family, who still supported her and were in court.
He noted it was that good character that allowed her to gain the employment and trust of the Wright family.
Judge Haesler also accepted her remorse, she was suffering from depression and she had accepted responsibility.
Hatton will be eligible for parole on July 20, 2025.
Australian swimmers and SailGP team’s unique exchange
Two of Australia’s leading sports teams - SailGPs Flying Roos and the Dolphins - are collaborating in a hunt for “little gems” to deliver lucrative triumphs on the water and Olympic medals in it.
Read more
Two kids charged in alleged murder investigation
Police have now charged four people in connection to a fatal incident near an Illawarra train station last month with two 13-year-old boys the latest to be arrested and hauled before the courts.
Read more