Plutus Payroll: Three guilty in biggest tax fraud trial in Australian history

Three men have been found guilty of the most significant and complex tax fraud in the nation. A Sydney jury found they ripped more than $100 million from the ATO. Jurors are yet to return verdicts for two other co-accused.

Guilty: Adam Cranston, left, Jason Onley, top right, and Dev Manon, bottom right. Pictures: News Corp/Supplied

The most significant tax fraud trial in Australia’s history is almost at an end with a jury finding three men guilty of siphoning more than $100 million of taxes to fund lives of luxury.

Adam Cranston, his sister Lauren Cranston, lawyer Dev Menon, Patrick Willmott and Jason Onley were put on trial in the NSW Supreme Court accused of conspiring to cause loss to the Commonwealth and conspiring to deal with proceeds of crime.

They each pleaded not guilty to charges with alleged ringleader, Adam, claiming he was unaware his company Plutus Payroll allegedly held back $105m in taxes over three years.

In court on Tuesday, after weeks of deliberations, jurors found Adam Cranston, Menon and Onley guilty of both offences.

The jury is yet to reach its verdict in relation to Lauren Cranston or Patrick Willmott.

Justice Anthony Payne has presided over the extremely long-running and complex fraud case which has been prosecuted and defended in front of a panel of jurors since April 2022.

The jury were told Plutus Payroll was given lump sums by employers and tasked with paying workers their wages and superannuation while sending Pay As You Go (PAYG) taxes and GST to the ATO.

Plutus, prosecutors said, siphoned the PAYG and GST funds into “second-tier companies” so they could gold-plate their ordinary lives.

Adam Cranston’s legal team told the jury he believed Plutus was a profitable firm when he took it over in June 2016 and was unaware the money was coming from taxes destined for the Commonwealth.

Lauren Cranston’s lawyer told the jury she was just an employee at Plutus who followed orders and was unaware of any conspiracy.

The five were unaware investigators from the ATO and Australian Federal Police, jointly Operation Elbrus, had been listening in to their calls for almost a year when they were arrested in 2017.

Some of the taps were played to the jury including one intercepted between Adam Cranston and Menon in January 2017.

Adam Cranston was heard telling Menon “if this was uncovered… it would be f***ing Ben Hur, man”.

Prosecutors played other recorded conversations which they said also showed Adam Cranston, Menon and Willmott discussing what they’d tell the ATO if they were investigated.

Prosecutors seized tens of millions of dollars in property; sports cars, luxury watches and jewellery, wine and fortunes in cash in the lead up to the trial.

The Cranstons’ father, Michael, was an ATO deputy commissioner at the time of his children’s alleged fraud.

Prosecutors told the jury that members of Plutus considered asking Adam to speak to his father to “suss out” if they were being investigated.

Michael Cranston was cleared of allegations he misused his position to benefit his son in a separate trial in 2019 and is not accused of any wrongdoing.