Bruce Abernethy: Infrabuild trading boss pleads guilty in $4.7m fraud, admits to blowing fortune on beer and gambling

Former scrap metal trader Bruce Abernethy blew millions on racehorses, his Sportsbet account, and beer.

The mastermind of a $4.7m fraud committed against steel recycler Infrabuild blew the lot on gambling, racehorses, and beer, the Herald Sun can reveal.

Bruce Abernethy, formerly of Brighton, on Thursday pleaded guilty to a string of charges stemming from his leading role in a long-running fraud, the idea for which, he said, “just popped into my head one day”.

Abernethy and his co-accused, Shane De Jong — who is yet to indicate whether he will fight the lesser charges he is facing — were fired when a lowly weighbridge clerk at the company’s Laverton scrap yard raised concerns about changes being made to internal company records.

Bruce Abernethy, formerly of Brighton, has pleaded guilty to defrauding his former employer, Infrabuild, of $4.7m

Shane De Jong, 52, is yet to enter a plea. Picture: supplied

“(My boss) rang me before I would be at work, and said, ‘nah, I don’t want you to come to work. I want you to meet me at this place’,” Abernethy said in an interview with police.

“I’d been involved with sacking other people and that was the process they used.

“I knew that the game was up. I knew what was going to happen.”

Police laid charges after Infrabuild’s forensic accountants uncovered the multimillion-dollar scale of the fraud.

De Jong is alleged to be responsible for a far smaller portion of the alleged scam.

The scam Abernethy has now admitted to masterminding involved Infrabuild paying commercial rates for scrap metal from people who were happy for the company to take it in exchange for it being cleaned up and taken away.

Infrabuild Recycling was defrauded of millions (file photo)

Abernethy falsely claimed the job had been arranged by an innocent, Sydney-based scrap metal trader, who then paid the money out to a fake shell company Abernethy dreamt up.

In reality, the money landed in Abernethy’s bank account.

“Obviously once it starts, it’s a slippery slope and you just keep going until you get caught,” Abernethy said in an interview with police.

He agreed with police that he boasted about his scam, telling a friend, “Hey man, this is awesome … I’m making a fortune here.”

Abernethy and De Jong owned stakes in Country Cup winner Claidheamh Mor, and once-Ciaron Maher-trained Secret Glamour.

“I just got sucked into the environment,” Abernathy said.

Secret Glamour wins Race 4 at Randwick. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Bank records seen by the Herald Sun show Abernethy was blowing tens-of-thousands a day through his Sportsbet account.

“It was terrible,” Abernethy said.

“Sometimes $10,000 or $15,000 in a day on horses … sometimes up until, like, 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning.”

The police investigation revealed Abernethy lost track of the sheer scale of his offending.

When confronted by detectives, Abernethy thought he might have doctored 300-odd transactions.

In reality, it was 1640.

Abernethy told police having a source of no-questions-asked money while in the grips of a gambling meant he was unable to stop rorting his former company.

“In the end, I created a rod for my own back,” he said.

Claidheamh Mor ridden by Carleen Hefel wins the Metcap Finance Victorian Country Cups Final at Caulfield. Photo by Pat Scala/Racing Photos via Getty Images

Abernethy moved to New Zealand shortly after he was fired and is now working at his parents’ scrap yard north of Auckland.

His gambling losses in Australia were so massive that he counts a small stake in dud New Zealand racehorse worth “$500 maybe” as one of his only assets.

Abernethy and De Jong, previously best mates, are no longer on speaking terms.

Abernethy blames his former friend for the scam, telling police: “The way I understand how it came to light was that (De Jong) talked to a weighbridge clerk in a terrible tone about changing a docket, and the … he didn’t like the way he was talked to, so he said, ‘this seems fishy to me’.”

Abernethy will face a sentencing hearing in the County Court in January.

De Jong will face the Magistrates Court later this month.