Steven Furman: Tullamarine carpenter accused of dealing meth

A Tullamarine chippy is facing serious charges after huge sums of unexplained cash were allegedly found at his home and in his accounts.

Steven Furman has been accused of trafficking large amounts of meth.

A Tullamarine father has been accused of being a bigtime meth dealer after almost $460,000 of unaccounted for cash was allegedly found at his home and allegedly millions more in his accounts.

Steven Furman, 30, fronted Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday, facing charges including trafficking a large commercial quantity of meth and dealing with proceeds of crime.

The court heard police had been investigating Furman for months and believed he had been working with a Russian accomplice to distribute commercial quantities of meth.

Furman has been charged with moving a commercial quantity of the drug between July and October last year.

A search of Furman’s home on October 28 allegedly uncovered $458,532 cash, more than 20g of cocaine, other powders, a brick hydraulic press, hand mixer, prescription medication and cannabis.

Steven Furman has been granted bail.

He also allegedly had ammunition, multiple phones, a gold bullion and a range of other people’s ID cards, including Medicare cards.

Police arrested and released Furman, then went on to tap a huge number of his phone calls over months.

After reading transcripts of the calls, Magistrate Bakos said the subjects of the conversation were a matter of interpretation, but there was an “irresistible inference” that Furman and his alleged offender were talking about drugs and criminal activity.

Police alleged some of the conversations involved Furman trying to buy a gun.

Investigators raided Furman’s home again on March 31, allegedly uncovering several cars, including a Range Rover, boxed designer watches and a gold chain they believed to be the proceeds of crime.

Police also allegedly found Furman had cash stashed in a Coles bag and a gift bag.

The court heard police had also discovered more than $1.5m of unaccounted for money had gone into one of Furman’s bank accounts in just under two years.

A second bank account, which was listed under a company allegedly unknown to the tax department, had almost $850,000 go through it at the same time.

It was heard Furman hadn’t submitted a tax return for the last financial year, but none of the cash had been accounted for in earlier returns.

The court heard police had obtained records from Crown Casino which allegedly showed Furman’s gambling transactions at the Casino had totalled $567,000 from May 2017 and March 2020, with most occurring in 2019.

It was heard Furman had no relevant criminal history and had never been in jail before his past 90 days on remand.

Furman’s lawyer said her client had been a gambler all of his adult life, and that he grappled with significant drug and gambling addictions, proposing he be bailed to a three-month residential drug rehabilitation program.

But it was heard police argued Furman was not a drug addict, but had been trafficking drugs purely as “a money-making venture”.

The court heard he was an accomplished carpenter, and a potential future employer fronted the court to confirm work would be available to him when he finished rehab.

Two family members appeared before the court to offer $200,000 surety for Furman’s release.

It was heard Furman was a father of three, and that he had barely seen his five-month-old baby due to being held in custody, while his matters could not go to trial for years.

Magistrate Bakos said the police had a strong circumstantial case against Furman, but agreed there were exceptional circumstances for why he should be granted bail, releasing him to the rehab centre.