Former Surf Life Saving NSW boss Matthew Hanks pleads guilty to fraud
Disgraced former Surf Life Saving NSW boss Matthew Hanks has pleaded guilty to eight years of defrauding the charity to fund a millionaire’s luxury lifestyle of mansions and a yacht.
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Disgraced former Surf Life Saving NSW boss Matthew Hanks has pleaded guilty to eight years of defrauding the charity to fund a millionaire’s luxury lifestyle of mansions and a yacht.
In the NSW District Court on Wednesday, Hanks, 52, pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud and was remanded on bail by Judge Deborah Sweeney.
The extent of the deception devastated his former colleagues who initiated a Supreme Court action to get back the $3.7 million they claim he stole.
That was around $9000 a week for the eight years he worked for SLSNSW, more than the $8000 grant most surf life saving clubs get in a year.
The rort was revealed by The Daily Telegraph in 2017 after SLSNSW called in police.
In his resignation letter Hanks admitted he had defrauded the organisation although he later disputed he had stolen as much as $3.7 million.
The civil case has since been settled on terms which cannot be disclosed.
His assets including bank accounts and neighbouring homes in Newport on the state’s posh northern beaches were seized along with his $490,000 yacht called Matadore.
Hanks has been living in Wollongong with his partner and young son.
He appeared before the court this morning from his kitchen via AVL looking very different to the boss who once danced with a blow-up unicorn at a SLS Christmas party,
The charges Hanks pleaded guilty to involved scamming a total of $1,839,845.
He admitted defrauding the organisation of $400,000 through invoicing the SLSNSW printing work to his own company, See Hear Speak, but subcontracted it out to cheaper operators, pocketing the difference.
He also pleaded guilty to using a fictitious name to create a false invoice for $121,000 worth of construction work done at the Port Macquarie Surf Club. He altered the name on the cheque to resemble his own then depositing the money into his bank account.
Hanks also pleaded guilty to using inflated invoices when buying and selling cars for the organisation.
There were 55 cars involved which netted Hanks over $1,318,000.
As the news of their double-dealing boss devastated the heroes and heroines who risk their lives in the surf every day to rescue people in trouble, the NSW Fraud and Cybercrime Squad charged him in August 2019 with 55 dishonesty offences totalling $2.7 million.
He was due to stand trial this week on 39 fraud charges but the prosecution accepted his plea of guilty to the six counts.
The deceptions were uncovered in the middle of 2016 after a staff member discovered discrepancies in invoices from a supplier and approached the SLSNSW finance director with the words: “Something is going on.”
No other staff members were involved.
Judge Sweeney adjourned the case to Monday September 27 for a two-day hearing on disputed facts.
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