Jeremey Allan Dunn receives suspended sentence for role in $1.7M sport betting scheme

A Gold Coast man who turned a blind eye to a $1.7 million sports betting scam and allowed his name to be used on lease documents narrowly escaped going to jail.

The man said he didn’t know about the betting scam.

• BIKIES, BRAGGING AND CONS: THE WEEK IN CRIME
• HORROR ATTACK: “I DON’T CARE, YOU ARE DEAD”

A GOLD Coast man who turned a blind eye to a $1.7 million sports betting scam and allowed his name to be used on lease documents narrowly escaped going to jail.

Jeremey Allan Dunn claimed he was unaware of the scam his employer Stephen William Chant was operating.

Appearing in Southport District Court, Dunn pleaded guilty on Thursday to money laundering between August 2014 and February 2015.

Prosecutor Matt Hynes said Dunn, under police questioning, had asked why he would put his name to the lease if he knew about the scheme.

Judge David Kent sentenced him to 10 months prison wholly suspended for two years.

“You were wilfully blind to the wrongdoing,” he said.

The man claimed he was unaware of the betting scam his boss was running.

Mr Hynes told the court that Dunn had been employed by Chant to work as a telemarketer for a company called Freedom which shut down suddenly after investors started demanding their money back.

Chant then set up another company LESG, where Dunn also worked.

Dunn was asked to put his name on the rental documents for the LESG premises.

Mr Hynes said Dunn should have known that LESG was not above board due to the circumstances under which Freedom closed.

It was contested that by continuing to take a wage, he was laundering money.

A majority of the proceeds of the crime were taken by Chant.

Chant was sentenced in June 2019 to five years prison to be suspended after he had served two. He was expected to be deported back to New Zealand upon release.

Defence barrister Nick McGhee, instructed by Vered Turner Lawyers, said Dunn had no other criminal history and was unaware of the extent of the scam.

He said the money he received was used for his own living expenses or sent to his mother in New Zealand.

Dunn now owns a computer repair company in Ashmore.

Follow @leae