Lawyer Mark Leo O’Brien jailed for stealing $6m from dead clients, charity
Mark Leo O‘Brien used his position of trust in a law firm to misappropriate $6m from dead clients and charities, including the St Vincent de Paul Society.
Police & Courts
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A “lacklustre” Sydney lawyer, who ripped $6 million dollars from charities to buy a Bondi mansion, has been jailed for a decade despite a court hearing his “sociodemographic background” means he won’t fit with other prisoners.
His wife will not serve any time behind bars after “acquiescing” to her husband’s misdeeds and furnishing the ill-gotten home with more stolen cash.
Solicitor Mark Leo O’Brien pleaded guilty to 10 counts of misappropriating more than $6 million that his dead clients had bequeathed to charity.
His wife, Therese O’Brien, pleaded guilty to two counts of knowingly deal with the proceeds of crime after the NSW District Court heard she held a substantially lesser role in the crooked enterprise.
Judge Robert Sutherland, on Tuesday, said Mark O’Brien had risen to become a partner in a financially middling firm but held a “position of trust” dealing with the estates and wills of elderly clients.
“To all external appearances he was a respected and reputable solicitor,” Judge Neilson said.
When one woman died, in 2015, O’Brien was tasked with passing on $1.3m to charitable society for people with paraplegia or quadriplegia and a society for ophthalmologists.
A further $100,000 was left to St Vincent De Paul and the Prince of Wales Hospital.
O’Brien took a share of the fortune for himself and covered his tracks with false documents.
Over time the solicitor’s deceit grew more sophisticated, the court heard, and was used to fund a flashy lifestyle.
He leased a BMW, gave $50,000 to one of their children and funded a credit card that was used in the law firm. His children would later be given hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest-free loans.
The misappropriations had gone undetected by audits of the firm and, as O’Brien neared retirement, he tried his old trick again when another client died.
A week before Christmas in 2017 he granted himself a gift by pouring the dead person’s money into his superannuation.
Judge Sutherland said O’Brien had “abused his position of trust” but perhaps the most egregious spending came with the purchase of a $3.25m Bondi home.
The $300,000 house and a further $180,000 for stamp duty all came from the joint bank account he shared with his wife that was filled with misappropriated money.
St Vincent’s was in line for $2.7m donation, but that, too, had been wired to the couples’ account.
A letter from St Vincent’s executive director of fundraising, on the charity’s letterhead, appeared to verify the money had gone to the charity.
“It was in fact a forgery created by the offender to cover his tracks,” Judge Sutherland noted.
The couple spent $250,000 on renovations and $53,000 on furniture, the court heard.
O’Brien’s life unravelled when his law firm partner asked how the couple could afford the mansion given their prior home had sold for less than $1.5m
The solicitor said his wife had been given a substantial windfall.
O’Brien said his partner should have “enough faith in his integrity” and handed him a letter saying his wife was under no obligation to divulge her personal finances.
The partner wasn’t convinced and called in an accountant to audit the firm – by early 2019 authorities were picking through the tangle of fake documents and transfers.
Despite the repeated violations against St Vincent’s, the O’Briens were themselves devout members of a Catholic Franciscan order.
O’Brien would later tell an expert he was surprised a “moral creature” such as himself could have acted how he did.
A second expert, asked to draw up a report on the lawyer’s mental health, noted he had lead a “lacklustre career” with grumbling sadness his whole life and prison would make it worse.
The court heard O’Brien was born and raised in Sydney’s affluent east and privately educated in Waverley. He went on to Sydney University where he met and married his wife.
A third expert’s report, written for O’Brien, concluded his “socio-demographic background” would make it hard for him to fit in to the prison population.
The misappropriated funds have been repaid, the court heard, but about $500,000 in interest remains outstanding to the charities.
Judge Sutherland handed Mark Leo O’Brien 10 years in prison with at least six years before parole. He will be eligible for release in 2027.
Therese O’Brien, who the judge found was largely “passive” in the criminality, will serve three years on a community correction order meaning she will not be sent to prison.
She appeared overwhelmed in court as her husband was led to the cells, slumping into a chair as supporters tried to help her.
One supporter offered to speak to media outside court, saying Therese O’Brien was “shaken” by the verdict.
But the woman, who did not give her name, quickly fled down the stairs as Mrs O’Brien swiftly exited the Downing Centre, refusing to speak.
Mrs O’Brien must complete 500 hours of community service.