Deadline: Ivanhoe law firm that lured in Melbourne powerbrokers

Some of Melbourne’s biggest names in sport and law have been duped out of tens of millions of dollars by a kindly grandfather figure at a sober Ivanhoe legal firm.

The latest bookie robbery was done with a ballpoint pen.

Andrew Rule and Mark Buttler with the latest crime buzz.

When the pen is mightier than machine guns

The Great Bookie Robbery was all about machine guns and balaclavas and the element of surprise. But the latest bookie robbery was done with a ballpoint pen.

We refer, of course, to the umpteen millions of dollars that apparently vaporised from (among others) a bookmakers’ mutual benefit fund created to protect its members and the betting public when a bookie goes belly-up.

Sadly for them, other independent bookies who handle their own guarantee funds are also victims of what some were calling Australia’s biggest Ponzi scheme by Monday this week.

Bookies’ guarantee funds are a version of pass the hat around and stick the cash under the mattress for a bad day.

In the case of the Victorian Bookmakers Association, the office bearers ducked the mattress and did the businesslike thing by entrusting several million bucks to what everyone agreed was a sober suburban legal firm known for handling the affairs of sporting clubs and people.

This is AMS Ivanhoe Lawyers, founded in 1966 by John Adams, who was later joined by Shane Maguire. The pair ran the firm for decades, right up until Adams died recently, at which point Maguire discovered some troubling holes in the founding partner’s accounts.

Bookmakers tend not to gamble their own money so the association was happy to see the firm invest the funds in conservative first mortgage loans, lending no more than 50 per cent of valuation on any property.

At the time of writing, frantic investigations are still under way. The bookies hope that if the allegedly missing cash cannot be found, the value of properties linked to the firm would cover any shortfall.

Bookies are not the only victims of a scheme that attracted all sorts of people, including one Carlton Football Club heavyweight who’s reputedly in the hole for $5m. As one former bookie says, it doesn’t take many like that to get past $50m.

It’s odds on to be the biggest lawyer embezzlement since 2012, when enigmatic St Kilda solicitor Phil Linacre started what became Ponzi scheme after dipping into trust funds to cover personal debts.

He lured potential investors, including friends and family members, with offers for them to “invest” at handsome interest rates. If that didn’t work, he swung loans from them to help plug the gaps before the fertiliser hit the fan.

Speaking of music, one of Linacre’s victims was singing legend Joe Camilleri and his former wife, who sued the Legal Services Board for $140,000 of the $500,000 they lost to Linacre.

Ballarat fashion crime

An accused bikie’s exuberant mullet haircut has forced Victoria Police into what is believed to be a law enforcement first.

Our cops have done a lot of pixelation of video over the years, usually of faces, addresses and number plates.

But a painstaking Deadline investigation (two-minute Google search) has found no record worldwide of a man’s hairdo being obscured in the interests of justice.

Heavily armed officers could not have missed the alleged Mongol with the prodigious mullet when they pounced at the Wendouree Village shopping centre in Ballarat.

His ’do was so distinctive that police later felt compelled to pixelate the image in case it prejudiced future court proceedings or the like.

We ran a few names of famous mullet-wearers past those who have seen the unedited version. Names on that list include Billy Ray Cyrus, Wayne Weidemann and Andre Agassi.

The closest comparison, we are reliably told, is that the suspect’s hair was something like that sported by David Spade’s character in the 2001 film, Joe Dirt.

Is this the first time a mains mullet has been obscured in the interests of justice. Supplied

Flushed with cash

The fight against funny money has moved to the dunny.

Signs urging pokie patrons to report money-laundering activity have appeared in toilets and other areas of Melbourne gaming venues.

So, while you’re encouraged to piss your money up against the wall, it will be absolutely clear you should not be laundering it.

“Not sure many of this crew would be laundering their clothes, let alone money,” one unkind observer remarked last week after visiting his local gambling den.

There has been mounting concern in recent years about the extent of money laundering in Victoria’s suburban and regional pokie lounges.

Crime syndicates are suspected of using some venues to clean millions of dollars.

Some of that is via the time-honoured tactic of buying winning tickets at a premium then cashing them as proof that cash was lawfully obtained.

The Sunday Herald Sun revealed last year that criminal intelligence data showed 75 of the state’s operators reported more than 400 customers for using poker machines to launder money or commit other crimes.

Those reports were made to AUSTRAC, the Commonwealth’s financial crimes watchdog.

The new posters are produced by the Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission, which has urged operators to install them in their gaming areas.

“The posters remind money-launderers that we are constantly monitoring gaming machines and encourage the public to report suspicious behaviour,” the VGCCC website says.

Hot hands a burning issue

Fire is the Devil’s only friend, Don McLean once sang, but it’s also on pretty good terms with Melbourne’s criminals.

In the past year, it seems to have become the preferred tactic of gangsters as they do battle on a number of fronts.

About 30 tobacconists have been torched in turf warfare over the outlaw smoke trade.

Also up in flames have been grocery businesses, gymnasiums and mechanical workshops.

Then there are the many getaway vehicles set ablaze after contract killings and sundry other high-level crimes.

That’s not to say the arsonists have had it all their own way.

At least four have set themselves alight in their haste to please the boss, the most recent a bloke who tried to torch a new tobacconist in South Melbourne on Sunday morning.

The Herald Sun revealed in September that CCTV had shown one of the Gavin Preston murder suspects has similar difficulties.

His arm apparently caught fire as he tried to torch an Audi used in the Keilor hit on Preston, making him (allegedly) a hot hand in more ways than one.

Bringing the heat

Being security conscious is a commendable thing in these troubled times but is a flame thrower taking it too far?

That’s exactly what detectives from the illicit firearms unit seized when they raided a home at Gordon, near Ballarat, last week.

Of course, the resident concerned might have had more reason than most to be mindful of intruders.

Investigators allegedly seized seven handguns, four of them home-made.

Hank Scorpio makes use of his flamethrower in The Simpsons.

Also confiscated were four long arms, gun parts, ammunition, a 3D printer and other equipment.

Methamphetamine and 70 mature cannabis plants were also found in the raid, which a Victoria Police spokeswoman said was prompted by information from Australian Border Force.

A 47-year-old Gordon man was arrested and charged with possessing a traffickable quantity of firearms, being a prohibited person possessing a firearm, manufacturing a firearm, possessing parts for manufacturing a firearm, being a prohibited person in possession of an imitation firearm, an ammo offence and drug matters.

He was bailed to appear in Bacchus Marsh Magistrates’ Court on December 15.