Tax fraud masterminds thought their scheme was bigger than Ben Hur: court

The masterminds of the country’s biggest tax fraud thought they would never go to jail because they had made the scheme so complicated that even they couldn’t untangle it, their trial was told.

The masterminds of the country’s biggest tax fraud thought they would never go to jail because they had made the scheme so complicated that even they couldn’t untangle it, their trial was told.

Ringleader Adam Cranston, 36, whose dad was ATO deputy commissioner Michael Cranston, was captured on police wiretaps describing how they had made the scheme that siphoned $105 million through a free payroll service known as Plutus Payroll so hard to expose that it was a “clusterf-ck”.

“There’s no forensic accountant in the world..I can’t even f--ken piece this together,” Plutus lawyer Dev Menon, 39, said during the conversation with Cranston in February 2017.

“We know what fraud we have perpetrated and even for us it’s hard to untangle.”

Convicted tax cheat Adam Cranston arriving with his wife Elizabeth at the Supreme Court in Sydney. Picture: Christian Gilles

But the ATO’s accountants were already ahead of them and four months later Adam Cranston and Menon were among the Plutus bosses arrested and charged over one of the biggest white-collar crimes in ­Australia’s history.

The jury in the nine month trial which last week found Adam Cranston, Menon and former sports commentator Jason Onley, 52, guilty of tax fraud had been told that the ATO had been onto the fraudsters for about a year.

Crown prosecutor Paul McGuire SC had told jury during his closing address that in that 2017 conversation, someone had asked what the jury “might think in the circumstances a pretty relevant question”: “Will any of us go to gaol?”

Menon replied: ”No.”

Then Adam Cranston said: “But do you know how long they can give you for crimes against the Commonwealth? My old man put people away for, like, seven years, and sh-t.”

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

Onley was recorded replying: “Yeah, and you appeal it and you get it down to three and you f--cking get good behaviour”.

Cranston, Menon and Onley now face a maximum of 25 years in jail for conspiring to cause loss to the Commonwealth and conspiring to deal with proceeds of crime. The jury is continuing to deliberate on the fate of their co-accused, Cranston’s sister Lauren Cranston, 30, and Patrick Willmott, 36, a schoolfriend of Adam Cranston, who have pleaded guilty to the same two charges.

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.

Plutus Payroll quickly took off as it charged no fee to look after the payroll for unsuspecting businesses but instead of paying taxes including GST to the ATO, Plutus moved the money through multiple companies which were in the names of straw directors. The rest of Plutus’ staff were unaware of the fraud.

Plutus Payroll lawyer Dev Menon faces up to 25 years’ jail after being convicted of massive tax conspiracy. Picture: Jonathan Ng

During the trial, Cranston blamed now deceased co-conspirator Peter Larcombe for the embezzlement.

Tens of millions of dollars in property, sports cars, luxury watches and jewellery, wine and fortunes in cash were seized by prosecutors.

Prosecutor Mr McGuire told the jury of one secretly-recorded conversation in January 2017 between Adam Cranston and Menon was the “key” to the whole case.

ATO fraud scandal convicted conspirator Jason Onley. Source: LinkedIn

“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.”

Mr McGuire told the jury: “Throughout this scheme... people who might be able to see the truth, were kept away from the truth; people who might be asking too many questions were fired, people who might have too much experience with bookkeeping were asked to leave the premises.”