Socialite Adriana Benhamou Weiss bids to avoid jail; We’re being intimidated, Cranbook president Jon North complains

Adriana Benhamou Weiss says she has changed her ways, but the prosecutor begs to differ. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

The socialite scammer who hit some of Sydney’s wealthiest has begged not to be sent to jail or have restrictions imposed on her, describing how her thefts were caused by the breakdown of her marriage and claiming she has changed her ways.

Adriana Benhamou Weiss appeared in court on Thursday as NSW Supreme Court judge William Fitzsimmons deliberated on how to punish the luxury interior designer who pleaded guilty to pilfering more than $156,000 from her company to fund her spending.

Appearing in matching blue alongside friend and lawyer Rebekah Giles as well as a coterie of friends, including her dad, Andrew Schor, “who has travelled from overseas”, Benhamou Weiss pulled out all stops to avoid facing the slammer.

The court heard a bundle of character references had made their way into Benhamou Weiss submissions. These included ones from Schor, fellow interior designer Tim Christmas, immigration lawyer Lillian Ajuria, and France-based sunglasses man “Paul E” who does business with Benhamou Weiss.

On top of that Benhamou Weiss’s lawyers entered two psychologist’s reports, seeking to explain her actions.

Benhamou Weiss landed in NSW courts over her design business, which collapsed in 2018 owing $8.1m to creditors.

Adriana Benhamou Weiss pictured on a visit to Paris. Picture: Instagram

The decline and fall of Benhamou Weiss – a regular on Sydney’s social scene and once married to Daniel Weiss, son of businessman Gary Weiss – has been a well-traversed topic among her former circles.

The court heard Benhamou Weiss directed her former employee Jennifer Hanna to prepare fake invoices and bank statements using photoshop to disguise her pilfering funds sent to her business to fund a renovation of PR queen Agata Kenna’s Bond Street offices in Sydney’s CBD.

Phillip Strickland SC, appearing for Weiss, said his client would be more than happy with a fine for her misdeeds, which could run as high as $54,000. “We can’t make any submissions about capacity to pay a fine. We would not wish to be heard on an imposition of a fine,” he noted.

But Strickland begged Judge Fitzsimmons not to impose a corrections order that might stop Weiss from travelling.

“We say to impose an (intensive corrections order) would be particularly harsh,” he said. “Her business is overseas. She must support her children. It’s the kind of business which requires her to very regularly go overseas.”

Strickland noted Weiss was “due to travel very recently” but he had “advised her to await your sentence”.

But Crown prosecutor Adam McGrath questioned Weiss’s statements and contrition, noting the evidence showed the spending was “not mere subsistence”.

“It’s not disputed she was going through an acrimonious divorce and that may have impacted herself but to excuse or explain the offending because of cash flow problems based on clients not paying doesn’t marry with the proposition or the fact that the company’s income was being transacted and spent on personal use,” he said.

“Ms Weiss hasn’t been completely candid or shown complete insight into how her personal expenditure contributed to the situation.”

Judge Fitzsimmons will deliver his sentence on December 9.

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Crown critique

The imposition last week by Victoria’s steely new gaming regulator of $120m in fines on Crown Melbourne for its management of problem gamblers and use of button picks on pokies stole headlines.

But a closer look at Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission chair Fran Horn’s 76-page explainer that accompanied her fine has exploded a bomb under newly arrived Crown Resorts boss Ciaran Carruthers and his boss, Blackstone local head Chris Tynan, who have 14 months to convince the regulator that Crown Melbourne is suitable to run the city’s monopoly casino.

Crown Resort chief executive Ciaran Carruthers at Crown Casino in Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Horn and her commissioners were withering in their assessment of Crown’s behaviour, even after multiple royal ­commissions. And she does not hold back.

The report says Crown has been “unwilling or unable to properly assist the Commission”. “The information Crown Melbourne has provided during this matter can be summarised as providing a lot of detail about how little has been done,” the report says. “That is in the same manner for which (Crown) was roundly criticised by the (royal commission).”

Crown’s submissions were “not supported by evidence” and did not provide enough relevant information.

The company’s actions, the report said, were “redolent of the old Crown, which Crown Melbourne keeps saying it wishes to leave behind”.

Horn’s report said the commission was “deeply concerned about the lack of progress that Crown Melbourne is making with its reform program”, which has “to date, been ineffective in deterring Crown Melbourne from failing to meet its regulatory obligations”.

The commission said it was “dismayed at Crown Melbourne’s response”, with its answers “of little assistance”.

Seems Star Entertainment isn’t the only industry recalcitrant. But does Crown have enough time?

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School daze

It seems the end of the school year is no good reason for the hostilities at the very top of Cranbrook, the Sydney educational institute for only the most privileged, to be suspended.

As reported by Margin Call and in the Financial Review, the school council has been a revolving door ever since president Jon North, once a Gresham banker, allegedly tried to turf the school’s headmaster, Nicholas Sampson.

In June, North was returned after an attempted putsch from Atlassian billionaire Scott Farquhar and Caledonia fundie Will Vicars (among others) ­failed to oust him. Since that time, two school councillors – Pepper Money founder Seumas Dawes and OFX chief executive Skander Malcolm – have quit in protest.

Cranbrook School headmaster Nicholas Sampson.

North, for reasons unclear, appears unwilling to let matters rest. In a missive to parents and alumni sent on Thursday, the Cranbrook president and the councillors said they were “disappointed that we must distract from the accomplishments of our students”. Must?

“The latest article follows a series of media stories over the last six months that relate to complaints by four disaffected individuals,” it reads, in reference to Vicars, Dexus chairman Warwick Negus, Macquarie director Nicola Wakefield Evans and Angus Dawson, the managing partner of McKinsey.

“They have challenged the reputation and governance of Cranbrook through an ongoing media campaign and in a way which has intimidated members of the School Council via legal threats,” the note reads.

The split between council, school and parents emerged over if and when to allow girls into the boys-only school, which counts as alumni both James and Kerry Packer.

“Despite the overwhelming support for the School Council and Cranbrook’s direction at the AGM, the disaffected individuals have continued to intimidate the School Council by alleging governance breaches and by issuing threats of legal proceedings unless their demands are met,” North et al continue. “The School’s legal counsel confirmed that their claims lack substance and are without merit. They have subsequently withdrawn these actions. The Council maintains that an orderly and planned transition process is in the best interests of Cranbrook.”