Ex-lawyers Pat and Jane Lennon paid $900k to Mick Gatto’s jailed son-in-law

Explosive documents also reveal details of emails between the ice-smoking former lawyer Pat Lennon and his wife Jane, and cocaine trafficker Danny Awad and his wife Sarah Gatto.

Danny Awad and his wife Sarah Gatto. Picture: Facebook

Ice-smoking former lawyer Pat Lennon and his wife paid Mick Gatto’s son-in-law, cocaine trafficker Danny Awad, $900,000 for no apparent reason in July last year, documents reveal.

Documents obtained by the Herald Sun also reveal Awad, who was awaiting retrial on drugs charges at the time, signed over some of his assets to a little-known builder from Preston at about the same time.

Transactions revealed in the documents include Awad arranging to lend money through a company run by Pat Lennon’s wife, Jane, and efforts by Pat Lennon to recover debts on the drug trafficker’s behalf.

Both Pat and Jane Lennon were lawyers until they handed in their practising certificates last year amid an investigation into the couple by the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner. Mr Lennon has also admitted in court to smoking ice in the past.

Jane and Pat Lennon.

Awad, who is married to Gatto’s daughter Sarah, is charged with attempting to possess 22kg of cocaine that Australian Federal Police alleged was smuggled into the country hidden in printers.

He was convicted of the charges in August 2019 and sentenced to 15 years in jail, but the High Court ordered a retrial in June 2022.

A new County Court trial was to be held in June but Awad has instead decided to plead guilty at a hearing to be held on November 8.

He has already served more than three years’ jail, meaning that with a discount for a guilty plea he faces a dramatically reduced stretch inside.

Danny Awad and his wife Sarah Gatto. Picture: Facebook

On July 13 last year, when a retrial was still on the cards, Awad struck a secret deal with a builder from Preston.

Secret documents obtained by the Herald Sun show that the builder agreed to hold a list of assets on the drug trafficker’s behalf and hand them back to him whenever he asked.

The following day Pat and Jane Lennon granted the builder a caveat over their multi-million-dollar mansion in Caulfield North.

And on July 17, they also transferred $900,000 to the Awads, from Mrs Lennon’s high-interest loans company Argyle Lending.

In emails with the Awads, obtained by the Herald Sun, Mrs Lennon dealt with the cocaine trafficker over the potential sale of the property.

The Caulfield North house of Jane and Pat Lennon.

In a July 20, 2023 email, Mrs Lennon told Danny and Sarah Awad they had received a $5.4m offer for the property “out of the blue”.

“Pat and I wanted to discuss that offer with you for obvious reasons and would still like to do so,” Mrs Lennon said in the email.

Land title documents show she lodged the caveat in her capacity as an Australian legal practitioner, even though she had surrendered her right to practise law about a month earlier.

Holding yourself out as a lawyer when you do not have the right to practise is a criminal offence punishable by up to two years’ jail.

Mr Gatto said he knew nothing about the transaction and referred inquiries to Awad, who did not respond to questions.

Mick Gatto. Picture: Tony Gough

The property dealings were part of a history of financial entanglement between Awad and the Lennons that are revealed in the previously secret documents as well as court and public records.

As earlier reported in the Herald Sun, Awad has previously loaned money through Mrs Lennon’s company Argyle Lending, which charges interest rates of 20 per cent or more.

In April 2022, while Awad was still banged up in Barwon Prison, he joined with the Lennons and Argyle Lending in a Victorian Supreme Court lawsuit claiming a stake in $5m worth of property.

The case has since lapsed because Awad and the Lennons have taken no action to progress it.

Documents obtained by the Herald Sun reveal that, through Argyle, Awad and his wife loaned $420,000 to a Moonee Valley couple on August 3 last year at the interest rate of 4.5 per cent a month.

The Awads paid Argyle $15,000 in “legal fees” to arrange the loan, documents show.

Emails reveal that Pat Lennon also helped Danny Awad chase money he claimed to be owed by a woman.

Mr Lennon assisted by emailing a man who had previously borrowed money from the woman.

“Unfortunately, Danny is still owed monies from [the woman],” Mr Lennon wrote in the August 13, 2023 email.

“Are you able to have a chat with me in the hope you may provide some information that will assist Danny getting in touch with [the woman].

“Danny and I are happy to keep confidential any information you may provide if that is an issue.”

The approach did not bear fruit but Mr Lennon promised to continue his efforts.

“No word but I have mapped out a number of potential lines of inquiry after having gone thru the file – I will update u when we catch up face to face,” he told Awad in an August 18, 2023 email.

FUNDS FROZEN AS LEGAL DUO FAIL TO CONVINCE BANK TO PAY OUT

More than $700,000 linked to disgraced former lawyers Pat and Jane Lennon has been frozen after the pair were unable to convince Westpac to pay out the money.

Documents obtained by the Herald Sun reveal the pair desperately raced against time to get the money, owed by controversial Indian entrepreneur Ricky Duggal, paid to a woman who had loaned him money and is the cousin of an underworld figure.

But their efforts failed after the bank’s lawyers refused to co-operate, resulting in the cash being given over to the Supreme Court to decide what to do with it.

Lennon associates including disgraced former jockey Danny Nikolic and the Caulfield Cricket Club loaned at least $1m to companies associated with runaway entrepreneur Ricky Duggal,

who at one time rubbed shoulders with Saudi royalty and was part of a consortium to build a battery factory in India.

Ricky Duggal.

Mr Duggal failed to repay the loans and is now believed to be in India while the battery company, Magnis Energy, has been taken to court by the corporate watchdog as part of a long-running investigation.

Westpac also loaned money to Mr Duggal, secured by property including land in Mickleham, which it seized and sold last year.

In July and August last year Pat and Jane Lennon tried to convince Westpac the $720,000 left over after the bank took its share should be handed over to a company controlled by the woman who is related to the underworld figure.

But the bank’s lawyers, Minter Ellison, refused to hand over the cash, telling Jane Lennon they needed approval from other lenders listed on land title documents.

On July 31, 2023, Mrs Lennon wrote to the other lenders, who had provided money through Argyle, asking them to authorise the deal.

The president of the Caulfield Cricket Club, Ian Shinkfield, wrote back to Mrs Lennnon the same day, raising questions about the proposal, including questioning who the company was and asking why they were to receive money before the club.

The Lennons succeeded in gathering all the signatures they needed, and provided them to Minter Ellison.

However, the legal firm continued to raise concerns about the transfer and it is understood eventually paid the money into court rather than make a call as to who was entitled to it.

Westpac declined to comment.

Mr Duggal is said to be in India but could not be located.