Police installed a tiny pinhole camera above the deck of Lauren Cranston in their $105m tax fraud investigation

She ate. She swore. She bitched about family and colleagues. She helped steal $105 million from the ATO. But Lauren Cranston had no idea there was a hidden camera watching her do all of it.

Help from above, about two metres above, was crucial in proving the children of an ex deputy commissioner of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) were guilty of a $105 million tax fraud.

When police became aware that Adam Cranston was the ringleader of one of the biggest tax ripoffs in Australian history, they broke into his operation’s financial command centre at an office in southern Sydney and installed an ingenious piece of technology.

It was a tiny spy camera in the ceiling that was accompanied by an equally tiny audio recording device that sat neatly and undetected in the office on Kiora Rd, Miranda.

The police’s secret eye was trained directly above the computer and desk used by Adam’s sister, Lauren Cranston, and footage and audio was played at their trial in the NSW Supreme Court, which ran for eight months from last April.

Between December 2016 and January 2017, the devices collected damning evidence that showed Lauren was a key member of the tax fraud conspiracy, which siphoned the tax to a series of shelf companies via a complex structure of bank transfers.

Lauren Cranston was caught revealing details about the tax fraud scheme with a spy camera. Picture: Supplied

She was also recorded saying that the operation would fail without her efforts while bitching about “most hated” family members and “f … wit” colleagues with declarations like: “So f … ing sick of humans, I am. F … ing hell. So over this shit …”

She also criticised her brother, Adam, for involving too many members in the scam who were dangerous for his interests.

“You just create monsters wherever you go,” Lauren was recorded telling Adam on December 22, 2016. “You create monsters and they f … you over …”

Details of the surveillance sting can be revealed after Lauren was found guilty on Monday on charges of conspiring to cause a loss to the Commonwealth and dealing with more than $1 million that was the proceeds of crime.

Lauren Cranston was convicted alongside her brother for her role in the tax scheme. Picture: AAP Image/Peter Rae)

Lauren burst into tears when the jury delivered its verdict. She was granted a 16 hour reprieve by the court to go home that night to make “childcare arrangements” before being taken into custody on Tuesday morning.

A week earlier, Adam, tax lawyer Dev Menon and ex TV sports presenter and pro snowboarder Jay Onley were found guilty of their roles in the massive fraud.

Adam and Lauren are the children of ex ATO deputy commissioner Michael Cranston. Michael resigned after being charged with using his position to access top secret information to help Adam. He was found not guilty by a jury in 2019.

On May 2, 2017 a phone conversation between Adam and Michael was secretly recorded by police that showed the ex ATO officer having a panic attack when his son attempted to mine him for information about the ATO investigation into his operation.

Michael Cranston is the father of Lauren and Adam. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Adam Cranston was the ringleader of the $105m tax fraud scheme. Picture: AAP Image/Peter Rae

Michael was in court to watch the verdicts for both of his children through tears.

At the centre of the fraud was Adam’s company Plutus Payroll, a legitimate payroll company that was used to keep gross wages from its client companies. But instead of paying the full amount of PAYG and GST to the ATO, the Cranston stole the money using a network of shelf companies and fake directors.

The group stole $105 million and used it to fund high end lifestyles that included real estate, sports cars, fine wine, planes and holidays.

The surveillance tech in the Miranda office captured video and audio of Lauren operating the bank accounts for the second tier companies used to steal the tax allocations that were supposed to be paid to the ATO for Plutus’ clients.

AUDIO: Listen to Adam Cranston’s conversation with his father in the interactive player below

Lauren worked to a formula where only 60-70 per cent of the tax was paid. The footage also showed Lauren posing as the straw directors – vulnerable people like drug addicts and ex-convicts – who were installed in name only to disguise Cranston and others’ involvement, so she could control the bank accounts of the second tier companies and transfer the money.

She was not shy about expressing her opinions – usually related to frustrations with people – more often than not punctuated by swearing

“I can’t do humans anymore,” Lauren exclaimed on December 22, 2016. “I’ll plug all this f … ing shit in so we can work out what tax we’re paying today … F … ing fantasy game. F … off. We don’t want it anymore.”

One of those people who double crossed Adam was one of the key architects of the tax fraud scheme, Peter Larcombe, who stole millions and fled overseas before killing himself in Los Angeles in 2016.

On January 12, 2017, Lauren was recorded telling a colleague about Larcombe’s exploits with a company known as Aventis where he would go to the bank with a “duffel bag” and “clear” its bank account by withdrawing up to $500,000 cash. It left Lauren in a position where there was no money in the company’s account for her to pay employees.

“So I rang Adam and I’m like ‘Your business partner is nothing but a f … ing c …’,” Lauren was recorded saying. “‘You need to work out, get that money back in that account today. Cos it was like f … ing three o’clock cos I need to pay people wages, mate. And I cannot pay people.”

The colleague said: “I wonder if this shit ever gets (reported) to your dad?”

Lauren responded: “Yep. Oh, nah. I don’t know.”

On January 12,2017, Lauren was recorded disputing an explanation that one of the straw directors gave that they had stolen $10,000 from the scam to fund an abortion.

“ … Ten grand for an abortion,” Lauren was recorded telling a colleague. “It’s like f … ing $600.”

Lauren complained that the director “is the craziest bitch of them all” before asking “Why are they all maniacs?”

Lauren is yet to be sentenced.