Adrien Le Guillou: French immigrant sentenced for drug supply

After spending more than a year behind bars, a French immigrant who a court heard fell off the rails due to his ‘indulgent lifestyle’, has learned his fate after he was busted with just under 1kg of cocaine.

Adrien Le Guillou was sentenced at Downing District Court. Picture: Nikki Short.

A French crypto currency trader who immigrated to Australia after completing two university degrees fell off the rails due to his “indulgent lifestyle” and was busted harbouring nearly 900 grams of cocaine, a court heard.

Bronte resident Adrien Le Guillou, 26, fronted Downing Centre District Court to be sentenced after having already spent 13 months behind bars since his arrest in December 2021.

The 26-year-old French man had previously pleaded guilty to dealing with the property proceeds of crime and supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.

The court heard how Le Guillou, who arrived in Australia when he was 21-years-old, soon fell off the rails and became caught up in commercial drug supply.

While delivering his sentence, Judge Jonathon Priestley said Le Guillou “has not had a life of disadvantage of any kind”.

Le Guillou was sentenced at Downing Centre District Court. Picture: Nikki Short.

The court heard the French man received two university degrees in business management in France before immigrating to Sydney in 2018.

In 2019, when Le Guillou’s visa status changed, he started working in cryptocurrency.

But in the lead up to the offending Le Guillou was also consuming around 15 to 20 grams of cocaine a week and received a separate conviction for supplying prohibited drugs, the court heard.

Between December 2019 and November 2021, Le Guillou received a large number of cash deposits, totalling $126,000, into different bank accounts.

The court heard these deposits were the suspected proceeds of crime.

When police carried out a search warrant on his home on December 21, 2021, they discovered 876.1 grams of cocaine located in different plastic bags in his bedroom, as well as cash, a set of scales, two iphones, two apple macbooks and two samsung phones.

The court heard Le Guillou told police he was simply storing the drugs and had received cocaine from time to time for his role.

“He’s acted badly for a period of time,” Judge Priestly said, adding Le Guillou fell off the rails due to his “indulgent lifestyle”.

“(He) was well aware of the fact that he was taking part in the perpetuation of drug supply in the community,” he said.

Judge Priestly told the court Le Guillou’s role in the distribution wasn’t known and neither was the reason why he carried out the cash transactions.

The court heard Le Guillou had good prospects of rehabilitation and has shown remorse for his offending, writing in a letter to the court that “jail has stopped me by slapping me in the face”.

Le Guillou, who had already spent 13 months behind bars on remand, was convicted of the offences and sentenced to a further one year and 11 months imprisonment to be served in the community by means of an intensive corrections order.