Property developer Daniel Hausman claims former boss Adam Cranston threatened him sparking blackmail demands
The star witness in the trial of veteran TV journalist Steve Barrett says taunts about his family being gassed at Dachau concentration camp sparked a blackmail plot.
A former Sydney property developer claims the son of the former Deputy Tax Commissioner Michael Cranston threatened him with a shotgun while asking menacing questions about the death of his relatives in the Holocaust.
Daniel Hausman told the NSW Supreme Court today the incident took place in 2016 while he was working for Adam Cranston, and it was a catalyst for him helping to hatch a plan to blackmail Mr Cranston for $5 million.
Hausman, who has been convicted and jailed for a minimum of six years for blackmail, was giving evidence in the trial of his alleged co-accused, veteran crime reporter and former 60 Minutes producer Steve Barrett.
Mr Barrett has pleaded not guilty to one charge of blackmail.
Hausman told the court Mr Cranston had come into his office brandishing what he thought was a loaded shotgun and pointed it at him.
Hausman said he asked if the gun was loaded but Mr Cranston did not answer.
He said Mr Cranston just dismantled the gun in front of him, then reassembled it all the while asking how many of his relatives had been gassed at Dachau.
The court heard he left the employment of Mr Cranston soon after and began plotting to blackmail Mr Cranston and his partners, who were allegedly involved in payroll tax fraud known as the Plutus Payroll fraud.
It is alleged Mr Barrett, with Hausman and Daniel Rostankovski, was part of a joint criminal enterprise hatched in February 2017, to demand $5 million from the group or face being publicly exposed.
The crown case alleges the group, which including Adam Cranston, were siphoning off millions in PAYG tax and GST for themselves by contracting out the payroll tax responsibilities to second tier companies with straw directors.
At a meeting in late September 2016, soon after Hausman left the employ of Mr Cranston, the court heard Hausman met with co-conspirator Daniel Rostankovski and began plotting the blackmail.
The court was told at that meeting Hausman told Mr Rostankovski and his solicitor Sevag Chalabian he “had a journo” who could provide leverage.
Hausman told the court he was referring to Mr Barrett, whom he had met only twice – six years previously. And had not seen since.
Under cross examination from Clive Steirn SC for Mr Barrett, Hausman agreed on the day he was arrested in 2017, he had lied to police in an attempt to minimise his involvement.
He also agreed he had tried to throw Mr Barrett under the bus as the prime mover (of the blackmail).
Hausman agreed that during his initial police interview he was “fighting a rearguard action trying to distance himself from the full criminality”.
Hausman is the key witness in the trial of Mr Barrett and he has already admitted in court he was a cocaine user with memory loss, who had lied to Mr Barrett right from the start to suck him into his plan.
Hausman has admitted he did not reveal anything about the blackmail to Mr Barrett, instead luring him with a potential story of how the Deputy Tax commissioner’s son, Adam Cranston, was allegedly ripping off the ATO.
The trial is continuing.
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Originally published as Property developer Daniel Hausman claims former boss Adam Cranston threatened him sparking blackmail demands
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