Lip Lab founder Kimberley Treacy to fight fraud charges in court
The co-founder of glamorous beauty empire Lip Lab who is accused of lying to the bank will have to fight her case after trying to get the matter thrown out of court.
Macarthur
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A magistrate has told the co-founder of a national beauty empire she will need to fight her case after she was accused of lying to a bank about her wage to get a home loan.
Lip Lab co-founder Kimberley Treacy, 31, briefly appeared at Picton Local Court on Monday where Magistrate Mark Douglass told her he is rejecting her solicitor’s no-case-to-answer application.
Ms Treacy faced a hearing earlier this year where police prosecutor Sharon Danks alleged the beauty empire founder lied to a bank to obtain a home loan.
Following the hearing, defence solicitor Ben Jamieson made submissions on a no-case-to-answer, meaning Magistrate Douglass would have to decide whether Ms Treacy could be lawfully convicted based on the prosecution’s case.
A no-case submission is made when the defence considers the prosecution case does not support a finding of guilt and the court should dismiss the charge without the defence having to present their case.
Magistrate Douglass on Monday told the court he found “there is a case to answer” in relation to all four charges Ms Treacy is facing.
“There was a legal application that there was no evidence to support the charges to a sufficient level,” the court heard.
“I’ve considered those applications and I am against counsel, initially we thought it would be finished but counsel probably want to consider my decision.”
Ms Treacy denies lying to the bank and tried to have the matter thrown out of court despite a police forensic accountant claiming a $30,000 discrepancy in her wages.
Police allege the beauty empire founder signed documents knowing the information was false and misleading in regards to a property at 32 Greenbridge Dr, Wilton.
Evidence tendered to Picton Local Court during a hearing earlier this year showed multiple application forms, bank statements, pay slips and ATO statements with varying incomes.
A police accountant told the court the mother-of-two’s wage was at one stage $30,000 different to the amount she lodged with the Australian Taxation Office.
NSW Police forensic accountant Alice Tran told the court the wage declared to the ATO during financial years 2014 and 2015 were different to the income Ms Treacy received.
“It is generally inconsistent with a wage payment, wages are usually weekly or fortnightly, but these were random,” Ms Tran told the court.
“Her net income was also more than what was declared as the wages transferred into her accounts.”
The most significant difference between Ms Treacy’s wage and what she declared to the ATO was in 2015 with a difference of $33,092, Ms Tran said.
Ms Treacy is facing charges of two counts of publishing false and misleading material to obtain property and two charges of obtaining property by deception.
She was initially arrested at a Camden beauty business in March 2019 alongside her drug mastermind boyfriend Shannon Macauley following a lengthy police investigation into the supply of ice and cocaine in southwest Sydney.
During her arrest, the court heard Ms Treacy refused to say whether she bought or was renting her home at Oran Park when asked by police.
She was accused of being a mid-level dealer in a drug syndicate in 2016 and 2017 but pleaded not guilty before the charges were dropped when her boyfriend denied she had any knowledge of the drugs and money.
The mother-of-two became a media sensation after creating multimillion-dollar Lip Lab Cosmetics with her younger sister Courtney in 2015. There is no suggestion Courtney is involved in any wrongdoing.
The pair opened 14 stores across Australia selling cruelty-free beauty products.
It is not known what happened to the business but the Paddington flagship store remains closed and their mother Janine Treacy has taken over from Courtney as the sole company director and secretary.
Ms Treacy will appear before court again on October 25.
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