Adam Cranston seeks investigation of juror misconduct claims

The mastermind of the biggest tax fraud scandal in Australian history is seeking an investigation into possible improper conduct by jurors during his nine-month trial over a $105m rort.

Adam Cranston at the Supreme Court of NSW in 2019.

The architect of the biggest tax fraud scandal in Australian history has asked a court to order an investigation into possible improper conduct by the jurors that convicted him.

Adam Cranston was jailed for a minimum of 10 years after a gruelling months-long Supreme Court trial where a jury convicted him of ripping the Commonwealth off to the tune of $105m in a major tax rort.

The son of then-deputy tax commissioner Michael Cranston is now seeking an order of the court under the Jury Act requesting the sheriff to investigate possible improper conduct by the jury that convicted him in March 2023.

Repeated efforts to contact Cranston’s solicitor and the office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions regarding the order sought and the substance of the allegations did not elicit any responses.

Adam, his sister Lauren Cranston, former lawyer Dev Menon, former pro-snowboarder Jason Onley and Patrick Willmot were among a raft of players jailed over their roles in the extraordinary scam.

Lauren Cranston (left) and Adam Cranston leaving the Supreme Cour in 2022. Picture: AAP Image

In an earlier separate trial, Michael Cranston was found not guilty by a jury of misusing his position as a senior public official – the deputy tax commissioner – to help his son.

At the time of Adam’s crime, his father was in charge of the ATO’s investigations into exactly the type of large-scale tax fraud that his son had been committing.

Former ATO deputy commissioner Michael Cranston leaving Darlinghurst Courthouse after his son was found guilty. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Adam Cranston owned and controlled Plutus Payroll — a legitimate payroll company which managed tax obligations for a number of legitimate clients.

But he was ultimately found to have kept a significant percentage of those funds, by funnelling money to a complex web of second-tier companies.

The list of people chosen by the Plutus Payroll syndicate to act as the sham companies’ directors included reformed and current drug addicts, public housing residents, and disgraced former businessmen.

Cranston and Menon had once bragged in a phone call that the scam was so complex and impossible to untangle they would never face the consequences of their crimes.

They did not know then that police were listening in as they unfurled the inner workings of the Plutus Payroll fraud.

Jay Onley.

Dev Menon. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“If this was uncovered, Simon, if this was fully uncovered and they knew exactly what was going on, it would be f..king Ben Hur man. This is a big sized company,” Cranston said.

Menon had replied: “It would be the biggest tax fraud in Australia’s history, definitely, there is no question. It would be the biggest tax fraud.”

The Cranston siblings, Menon, Onley and Willmot each pleaded not guilty to conspiring to cause a loss to the Commonwealth and conspiring to deal with crime proceeds, before the jury, in a monster nine-month trial, convicted them after weeks of deliberations.

Throughout the trial, Adam – the alleged mastermind – denied knowing his company had withheld $105m in taxes over three years.

Instead, Adam blamed co-conspirator Peter Larcombe – who an American coroner ruled had died by suicide in 2016, weeks after raising his fears the scam was about to be uncovered – for the embezzlement.

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