Bookkeeper Liam Kent Gillions defrauded to fuel gambling addiction

A devoted family man with a privileged upbringing has been jailed after defrauding more than $100,000 from a client.

Liam Kent Gillions was jailed for fraud.

A devoted family man with a privileged upbringing has been jailed after defrauding more than $100,000 from a client.

Bookkeeper Liam Kent Gillions used the funds to fuel a crippling gambling addiction, Brisbane District Court heard on Thursday.

Judge Vicki Loury said the 38-year-old was providing bookkeeping services through his own company to another business when he began proceeding payments from its bank account into his own.

From September 2022 to August the following year he used false invoices to disguise 47 payments into his account totalling $141,000, the court heard.

The fraud was discovered when a new bookkeeper took over.

One of the directors of the client company, who Gillions knew from high school, confronted him over the phone.

“You made an immediate confession and said you had a gambling addiction and used the funds to fuel that addiction,” Judge Loury said.

The following day in January 2024 he was charged with fraud in excess of $100,000 to which he pleaded guilty.

By July last year he had made full repayment to the victim company.

Barrister Matt Hynes said his client had taken on a second job to repay the amount.

He tendered a number of character references which described Gillions as a “deeply devoted father”. Some of the references were from clients who, despite knowing of his offending, had stuck with his bookkeeping company.

Mr Hynes said Gillions was deeply ashamed and regretful for his conduct which had cost him his two best friends who were connected to the company he defrauded.

After being charged he sought out a psychologist and attended Gamblers Anonymous for six months, the court heard.

Judge Loury said Gillions had a privileged upbringing and obtained an accounting degree, going on to start his own recruitment firm which expanded into a bookkeeping company.

She was unconvinced by a psychologist’s report which concluded Gillions, who self-reported depression, must have been more severely depressed and that was causative of his offending at the time.

“I feel depressed when I walk into the Children's Court of Queensland every single time. That doesn’t mean I have clinically diagnosable depression,” she said.

Judge Loury said Gillions, who had a minor and irrelevant criminal history, had shown a commitment to his own rehabilitation and his full repayment of the money demonstrated his remorse.

“I accept that your risk of reoffending is low … but your offending occurred over a significant period of time, involved a large number of transactions, it involved a significant sum of money and there was some degree of sophistication,” she said.

Gillions was sentenced to three years imprisonment to be suspended after six months.

Originally published as Bookkeeper Liam Kent Gillions defrauded to fuel gambling addiction