Ex-Deloitte Australia director Paul Quill sentenced at the County Court for racking up $2.7m in fake expenses
A former Deloitte Australia director who stole almost $3m through fake work expenses that he blew on lavish pink diamonds, fancy artwork and top-notch watches has discovered his fate.
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A former top end Melbourne accountant has traded glitz and glamour for the slammer after fooling his company into reimbursing him nearly $3m that he blew on luxury items including lavish pink diamonds and high-brow artwork.
Former Deloitte Australia director Paul Quill, 46, was sentenced to three years and six months behind bars on Tuesday at the County Court after he pleaded guilty to two counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
It comes after he spent $2.7m on high-end art and luxury items, including rare pink diamonds, before logging them as work expenses and tricking Deloitte into reimbursing him for the extravagant purchases made with his corporate Amex card.
Wearing a black suit, Quill — supported by family who travelled from Queensland to be in court — looked down and wiped away tears as Judge Samantha Marks read out his sentence.
Between August 2018 and February 2022 Quill claimed 368 false work expenses.
Court documents revealed he spent $786,000 on bespoke jewellery from Camilla Gough and almost $1m on artwork and sculptures from galleries including Sullivan + Strumpf in Sydney, Linton & Kay in Perth and Adrian Sassoon in London.
He also spent $44,000 on watches from online marketplace Chrono24 and $27,000 at luxury retailers Louis Vuitton and Yves Saint Laurent.
More than $76,000 worth of loose Argyle pink diamonds were also among his lavish purchases.
Court documents revealed he created false emails from a firm partner who approved the illegitimate expense claims and uploaded false invoices into Deloitte’s reimbursement system Concur.
He would label the expenses as “search and filing fees”, “postage/couriers” and “stationery/external printing/copying” to avoid detection.
Prior to the offending his monthly reimbursements were less than $10,000, with this blowing out to more than $275,000 in February 2022.
He was caught in early 2022 by Deloitte’s finance team during an audit.
His employment was terminated in April 2022 after seven years at Deloitte, with the Federal Court also ordering Quill to pay the money back to the company.
Judge Marks said Quill’s offending was a “significant breach of trust”.
“You weren’t just an employee you were a director, one step below partner ... you exploited the trust Deloitte placed in you and significantly harmed them,” she said.
The court heard the offending started soon after his maternal grandmother — whom Quill was “very close to” — died and his relationship with his partner broke down.
“The evidence indicates the catalyst for your compulsive buying was the death of your maternal grandmother,” Her Honour said.
“The breakdown of the relationship caused you to isolate yourself and depend on dysfunctional coping strategies like alcohol use, overeating and compulsive buying and overwork.
“It’s highly likely at the time of offending you suffered from body dysmorphic disorder and alcohol use disorder.”
Quill was sentenced to a total of three-and-a-half years behind bars, with two years and two months non parole.
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