Adriana Benhamou Weiss: Socialite to learn fate for falsifying, destroying company books
A Sydney interior designer who once worked for an elite circle of clients is set to learn her fate in court after pleading guilty to falsifying her company’s books. See how she spent her ill-gotten gains.
Wentworth Courier
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A Sydney socialite who worked for an elite circle of clients before her company went bust is set to learn her fate in court after pleading guilty to falsifying her company’s books.
Adriana Benhamou Weiss was a mainstay of the Harbour City’s social scene, a glamorous interior designer travelling the world and rubbing shoulders with the elite.
However, in July 2018, her interior design empire, Benhamou Designs, went bust, as liquidators were called in.
Weiss appeared in court on Thursday charged with six counts of falsifying, concealing and destroying the company’s books. She pleaded guilty to all charges in June.
Judge William Fitzsimmons heard on Thursday in Downing District Court how Weiss, both during the offending conduct, in 2016, and nine months before, would instruct a junior employee to use Adobe Photoshop to forge fake NAB payment confirmation receipts, as well as funnelling money sent from clients for work to her personal credit card.
Across the offending, which took place between 4 August and 8 September 2016, Weiss would instruct an employee to create forged NAB payment receipts, which showed transactions from Benhamou Designs to suppliers and contractors that hadn’t been made.
Weiss’s barrister argued his client showed “substantial remorse and insight” and – in a period of personal difficulty during a divorce – struggled to “juggle all the various things she felt she had to do”, which included overseas business travel and frequently returning to Sydney to care for her two children.
“She tried to preserve her business while being back home to support her kids, which ended up being calamitous,” he said.
“How she fixed those problems ended up ultimately being a crime.”
Crown prosecutor Adam McGrath noted, however, the forged payment receipts predated the offending by about six months.
“The offending is related to these dates, but it wasn’t isolated offending and it had occurred before,” Mr McGrath said.
Court also heard how during the period of offending, Benhamou Designs received $360,450 from clients for work. Of that amount, about $325,000 came from one company alone.
Concurrently, about $156,000 of that amount was siphoned to Weiss’s personal credit card, the agreed facts showed, which was spent in part on “plainly personal items”, Mr McGrath said.
This included transactions at the Ritz Carlton in Doha, Jo Malone outlets, duty free at Sydney Airport, fashion outlet Scanlan Theodore in Paddington, as well as a number of designer clothing stores in France.
The offending relates to the falsifying of company documents, not what she spent the money on, but Mr McGrath said it provided "context".
Weiss’ defence lawyer said while Judge Fitzsimmons should taken into account the spending, it was not the offence being sentenced.
“I’d urge caution as to how the issue of where that money was spent is taken into account,” he said.
Court also heard how Weiss told her psychologist, in the lead up to the sentencing proceedings, the offending was due to “cashflow problems”, which stemmed from “clients not paying”.
Mr McGrath disputed this, pointing to the agreed facts which showed deposits made in instalments by a number of clients of Benhamou Designs.
“The facts plainly show expenditure was on personal items, and items that weren’t for assistance or sustenance,” he said.
“To explain the offending as stemming from clients not paying doesn’t marry with the facts.”
The court heard how Weiss told the psychologist she understood the gravity of her crimes.
“I made a very big mistake and I committed a serious crime,” she said.
The Crown said the only suitable sentence was that of imprisonment, served either in custody or by way of an intensive corrections order (ICO). However, Weiss’s defence argued an ICO would severely hamper her ability to travel and conduct business overseas.
Both parties will return in December when a judgment is handed down.
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