How top Darwin real estate agent Chris Deutrom squandered his success with lies and fraud

THE toughest sell Chris Deutrom ever had to make was to a jury. But the 12 people, good and true, who were tasked with deciding his guilt or innocence, simply didn’t buy a word of it

Former Elders Darwin general manager Chris Deutrom has been jailed on a string of fraud charges

THE toughest sell Chris Deutrom ever had to make was to a jury.

Over two days last week, Deutrom sat in the witness box at the Supreme Court desperately trying to spruik the story of his innocence.

The 12 punters who decided his fate simply didn’t buy a word of it.

The 50-year-old was on Wednesday found guilty of eight counts of obtaining benefit by deception, charges stemming from him siphoning off more than $230,000 in company money into his personal bank accounts.

The jury returned a verdict Wednesday morning after less than two hours of deliberation and Deutrom was remanded in custody, prompting tears from his throng of supporters.

Sentencing proceedings, which are due to begin next week, are almost certain to see the former high-flyer handed a prison sentence measured in years rather than months.

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While awaiting sentence, the chatty veteran agent said he was still getting calls from clients wanting to list homes for sale, but he had told them he was “probably going to go to jail”.

Deutrom’s wife, Helen, said on the steps of the court after the verdic that justice had not been done.

“He put his heart and soul into that company,” Mrs Deutrom said.

Mrs Deutrom said the prosecution of her husband was the product of “corporate greed” by Elders, the very company which was defrauded of more than $230,000.

Deutrom, through his legal team, suggested the trial was prompted by Elders colluding with police and prosecutors, in an attempt to prevent him claiming a $1 million payout he believes the company owed him.

It was a conspiracy theory not backed up by a shred of evidence.

There was no doubt that Deutrom threw himself into running the Elders agencies in Darwin after he was headhunted for the gig in 2011.

Chris Deutrom and wife Helen shortly after listing their $3.9 million Cullen Bay property for sale

Deutrom’s barrister, Jon Tippett QC, summed it up neatly when he said: “Elders was Mr Deutrom and Mr Deutrom was Elders”.

For his efforts, Elders paid Deutrom handsomely, with a salary of more than $220,000, plus a 5 per cent slice of local profits, a generous loan, and when business was good, by gifting him another 5 per cent of the profits.

Deutrom also spent up big on his corporate credit card, racking up $209,000 on coffee, long lunches and other expenses in four years.

Even now, Deutrom claims siphoning off company money into his own bank accounts was justified, although the reasons he gave to justify these frauds never stacked up.

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Although he claimed a “positive position” of $1.5 million in assets, when his frauds against Elders began, his bank accounts showed eye-watering credit cards expenses and emails showed tradesmen working on his dress circle Cullen Bay house — and the bank manager lending him the money for it — were all chasing him for money.

Asked under cross-examination last week why he seemed to spend the ill-gotten money as soon as it landed in his bank accounts, Deutrom said: “because that’s what you do with money”.

His throng of supporters in court laughed. The jury members didn’t.

The only time they looked more gobsmacked was when Deutrom accused Crown Prosecutor David Morters, SC, of taking him “around in circles” in cross-examination.

“Eventually I might slip up and you might catch me out,” he said.

Chris Deutrom’s wife, Helen (centre) leaves the NT Supreme Court after hearing the verdict against her husband. Picture: ABC Darwin

Deutrom’s graft unravelled in the most unlikely way, when Matthew Pullman, the most junior staffer in his office — who cleaned the office on the weekend for extra money — saw something awry in an email.

Deutrom insisted the $14,410 that was paid into his bank account would go towards a staff trip to Bali, a trip which never happened.

Within a fortnight, an internal probe would begin to uncover the scale of Deutrom’s misuse of company money.

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In an email to his boss before the probe got underway, Deutrom laid it on thick calling him a “father figure”, begged for his job and insisted there was no more money missing.

“I remember the day we met at the hotel for my interview and you said to me that we will get on fine as long as I don’t lie to you or steal from you,” Deutrom wrote.

“I have betrayed this trust and feel like an absolute f---wit and am prepared to suffer the full consequences,” he said.

On Wednesday, just over two years on from when Deutrom clicked send on that email, those consequences became a reality as he was led down to the Supreme Court holding cells to be taken away to spent his first night in Holtze Prison.