Slater + Gordon suspect Bridgett Maddox has no reply on emails

Bridgett Maddox, the former ­Slater + Gordon payroll manager identified in court documents as a suspect in a malicious email hoax against the law firm, has emerged from hiding.

Former Slater + Gordon employee Bridgett Maddox seen enjoying champagne and oysters recently.

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Bridgett Maddox, the former ­Slater + Gordon payroll manager identified in court documents as a suspect in the malicious email hoax against the law firm, has emerged from hiding – but the convicted fraudster isn’t keen to discuss the claim that she was ­behind the attack.

The Australian caught up with Ms Maddox as she was out walking near her home in Melbourne, but the mother of three was in no mood to discuss the Slater + Gordon scandal, saying she had “nothing to do with the emails” and threatening to call police.

Ms Maddox, also known as Bridget Jones, has a long criminal record of fraud and theft which culminated in her spending two years in prison from 2017 for stealing more than $300,000 from her employers.

The 41-year-old left a trail of destruction at her prior workplaces before being reported to police in March as the possible culprit behind the “premeditated and carefully planned ­attack” on Slater + Gordon, in which staff were sent a poison-pen email along with a spreadsheet containing the salaries and performance ratings of all 900 employees.

On Friday The Australian revealed that former interim chief people officer Mari Ruiz-Matthyssen, who was falsely accused of sending the “malicious” all-staff email, has filed legal action against the firm in which she claims she told chief executive Dina Tutungi within half an hour of the email being sent that she suspected Ms Maddox.

BlackBay Lawyers solicitor Monica Allen, acting for Ms Ruiz-Matthyssen, said her client “had endured significant and ongoing personal and professional harm”.

In the week after the email wreaked havoc within the firm, Ms Ruiz-Matthyssen claims she received a text message from Ms Maddox – who the firm had ­already identified as having “a criminal mind” – taking joy in the unfolding saga and warning her to “keep my name out of your mouth”. The firm has been in turmoil since the email dropped into inboxes about 9.45am on February 21.

Slaters has attempted to curtail uproar from disgruntled employees by reaching out to all staff named in the email, and offering assistance to those affected.

The company also set up a process by which staff could raise concerns about pay parity, after hundreds of employees opened the spreadsheet listing the salaries of everyone at the firm.

The Australian understands some senior members of staff named disparagingly in the email have still not returned to the ­office. One of those employees, a general manager, is suffering from cancer.

In the email, the author alleged that Ms Tutungi wished to see “her gone”. The author instructed the new chief people officer to “tread carefully given the history”.

The Australian also understands a C-Suite level employee named in the email as “being made redundant due to old … loyalties” has also not returned to work. A Slaters employee, who requested anonymity to speak ­freely, told The Australian Ms Maddox was “very personal, very intelligent, and clearly very into her appearance”.

“She had quite a presence and was quite outspoken,” the employee said. “No one had any idea about all this stuff in her past. She flew right under the radar.”

Ms Maddox, who posts on ­social media as “Mad hatter”, has kept a low profile since the scandal erupted.

Former Slater + Gordon employee and convicted fraudster Bridgett Maddox.

Ms Maddox now appears to lead a life of luxury, despite no longer being on the $175,000, plus superannuation, package she ­received prior to being suspended and investigated by Slaters over the improper handling of a $200 gift voucher.

Recently seen at an up-market Melbourne oyster bar drinking champagne, Ms Maddox is now driving a BMW sports car, which a month ago had custom pink number plates referring to her new identity, but have since been replaced with generic plates.

That BMW was purchased through Slater + Gordon via a salary sacrifice scheme, and questions have been raised with the firm whether her fraud offences were declared to BMW Finance.

The Australian understands that the payments through the law firm has ended.

Court documents reveal she fraudulently changed her pay slips in 2016 to make her annual salary appear to be $152,000, instead of $65,000, to obtain a $920,000 Westpac home loan.

Ms Maddox started work at Slater + Gordon in August 2022 on a salary of $130,000. Despite having no previous experience, she was promoted by Ms Tutungi into the role of acting head of people services only two months later, with a salary of $160,000.

Bridgett Maddox in a photo from 2015 obtained by The Australian.

Though she later stepped back into the role of payroll manager, she was given a job title change to national manager and retained the new salary of $160,000. Ms Maddox was eligible for standard annual increases, which is how she received $175,000, plus super. Her total fixed annual remuneration was $195,000.

Former colleagues at one of Ms Maddox’s previous workplaces expressed shock at her lifestyle, claiming the organisation had lost $100,000 through her fraud.

“She has some disorder where she wants everyone to like her,” one person said. When she arrived at the workplace wearing designer shoes worth thousands of dollars her colleagues “flat out asked her ‘how can you afford that’,” the colleague said.

The colleague also said there was a letter begging US authorities to allow her to return to America. An arrest in 2015 appears to have created problems for her in doing so.

The Australian has verified through court records that Ms Maddox, then Jones, was arrested for domestic violence while on holiday in Las Vegas in 2015.

On May 30, 2015, police were called to the Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino after a request for assistance from hotel security regarding “a 36-year-old male who broke his left arm due to domestic violence”.

According to the police report, security staff went to the couple’s room, where the man told them he was “in an argument with his girlfriend, Bridget Jones, who pushed him and he fell backwards, hitting his left arm on the tub”.

According to the report, Ms Jones said she was kicked in the face as her boyfriend fell backwards. She told the police she had got into an argument with her boyfriend of three years over a “couple things” but he “got too close to her face and she pushed him back to get him away”.

However, at hospital, the man told police he fell in the bath, he wasn’t pushed and that although he had pain in his arm, it wasn’t broken or dislocated.

Ms Jones was arrested but it appears it was decided not to proceed with criminal charges.