NSW Angus cattle breeder Corey Ireland charged with fraud

Police may arrest other individuals after well-known NSW Angus breeder Corey Dean Ireland was charged police with eight counts of fraud on Wednesday.

Charges laid: Angus breeder Corey Dean Ireland has been charged with eight counts of fraud by NSW Police.

UPDATE: NSW police say they may arrest others in relation to alleged cattle fraud after

charging Angus breeder Corey Dean Ireland, 44, with eight offences on Wednesday.

NSW Police charged Mr Ireland, a principal of Irelands Angus, with fraud estimated to be more than $2.5 million.

He was granted conditional bail after the charges were made and is due to face the Wagga Wagga Local Court on June 24.

NSW Police said they would allege Mr Ireland entered into joint business ventures with farmers and on-sold cattle that either did not exist, were deceased or had been on-sold without investors’ knowledge.

Riverina Police district superintendent Bob Noble said Mr Ireland could have been working in concert with others and more arrests were possible.

Police said the investigation was ongoing.

The charging of Mr Ireland follows a lengthy police investigation into cattle transactions that occurred over the past few years at his and wife Prue’s Ireland Angus Stud at Kyeamba, south of Wagga Wagga.

The investigation is believed to include transactions relating to Angus cattle purchased off the Jondaryan stud in Toowoomba in 2015.

The Weekly Times does not suggest Mrs Ireland was involved in fraudulent activity.

NSW Police’s Rural Crime Prevention Unit raided the Irelands’ property, Ivydell, last December, after setting up Strike Force Seger last April to investigate suspected fraudulent cattle transactions.

They seized computers, documents and Angus cows and calves during the police raid just prior to Christmas.

Superintendent Noble said local farm owners had been devastated in recent times.

“Our farming community is suffering at the moment with recent droughts and bushfires, so to go through loss of stock on top of that is devastating,” he said.

“Our rural crime prevention team and local police have been working tirelessly during the course of this investigation to recover stock and work through documentation we will allege is related to fraudulent activity.

“We will continue to target and combat crime in all its forms.”

State rural crime co-ordinator Cameron Whiteside said the arrest was the culmination of great work by local police and rural crime investigators.

“Strike Force Seger is a complex and significant investigation co-ordinated by the Rural Crime Prevention Team, and highlights we are open for business during these difficult times,” Detective Inspector Whiteside said.

“We strongly believe there other victims out there and we urge them to come forward,” he told The Weekly Times.

“They should contact the Rural Crime Prevention Team in Cootamundra.”

The Ireland family’s former trustee company CD & PJ Ireland Pty Ltd was placed in liquidation by the Supreme Court of NSW on November 14 last year after petitioning by East Coast Stockfeeds over a debt of $43,000.

Mr and Mrs Ireland are the sole directors and owners of CD & PJ Ireland Pty Ltd.

Andrew Bowcher and Tim Gumbleton, of RSM Australia Partners, were appointed liquidators of CD & PJ Ireland Pty Ltd by the court as soon as it was placed in liquidation.

On November 15, trusteeship of the Ireland family trust was transferred to a new company, IFTT Pty Ltd, set up that same day with Mrs Ireland as sole director and owner.

IFTT was placed in receivership by Westpac Banking Corporation on December 24 in a bid to protect $3.5 million loaned to the Irelands.

A directions hearing was held in the Supreme Court of NSW in Sydney on April 3, and another hearing is scheduled for April 16.

The RSM liquidators’ report lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission last month indicated debts in CD & PJ Ireland Pty Ltd were at least $13.3 million.

Those owed money included Four 0 Eight Angus Pty Ltd, the operator of the 408 Angus Stud established by late Australian cricketer Phil Hughes and now run by his parents, Greg and Virginia Hughes.

Mr Ireland was close to the Hughes family, helping Phil Hughes to set up the stud.

He even delivered an eulogy at Phil Hughes’ funeral.

Four 0 Eight Angus Pty Ltd is claimed to be owed $2.8 million by CD & PJ Ireland Pty Ltd.

It has now begun legal action against Mr and Mrs Ireland over personal guarantees they gave on a deed arrangement signed in December, 2016, with a directions hearing scheduled for April 17 in the Supreme Court of NSW in Sydney.

Another creditor of CD & PJ Ireland Pty Ltd was Holstons Pastoral Company Pty Ltd, which has an Angus stud at Ensay in East Gippsland.

The stud bought some of the Jondaryan Angus cattle, although they were never delivered to the Ensay farm.

Holstons Pastoral Company claims it was owed $1.47 million.

Its principal, Peter August, placed a caveat over Ivydell, but only in relation to the portion held by Mr Ireland.

Mr August has taken Mr and Mrs Ireland to court, with two directions hearings held in the Supreme Court of NSW in Sydney on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

Mr Ireland did not return The Weekly Times’ calls.

His lawyer Jacob Carswell-Doherty, of legal firm Foulsham and Geddes, would not comment.

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