Livestock agent Nathan Gibbon faces Country Court for fraud charges

A Pakenham livestock agent falsely claimed certain cattle were bred on specific properties in Gippsland to make them eligible for export to China, fraudulently obtaining almost $235k.

Former livestock agent Nathan Gibbon faced the County Court of Victoria on Tuesday. Picture: NewsWire / Diego Fedele

A Pakenham livestock agent who exported cattle to Asia falsely claimed the cows were bred on allocated properties in Gippsland and fraudulently obtained almost $235k from two companies.

Nathan Gibbon, 50, faced the Melbourne County Court on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to two counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception and one count of handling stolen goods.

Court documents revealed between December 2018 and July 2019, Gibbon dishonestly obtained $209,955 by falsely representing to Australian Global Exports that 185 cattle were vendor bred on property either belonging to Aaron Thomas or Erin Horton.

Details in one of the sales included Gibbon invoicing AGE for cattle with a property identification code (PIC) allocated to a Longwarry site associated with Mr Thomas.

Gibbon relied on a national vendor declaration (NVD) to confirm Mr Thomas was the owner of the cattle and to claim the cows were vendor bred and could be exported overseas.

However, it was later revealed the cattle were not from that farm and Mr Thomas did not sign an NVD.

Then in September 2019, Gibbon fraudulently gained a total of $24,750 by falsely representing to Yarra Corporation that 25 cattle were also vendor bred on Mr Thomas’ property.

Nathan Gibbon is a registered livestock agent from Lardner.

One month later, several farms linked with Gibbon were inspected, and several NVD books and bags containing ear tags, that appeared to have been removed from cattle, were located at his property.

Also found were handwritten notes detailing PIC numbers, company names and dates.

The live export trade is regulated by the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF).

One of the requirements that must be met by Australian exporters sending cattle to China include the cattle being born and raised on the farm from which they are being exported (vendor bred) or reside on the farm for six months prior to export (non-vendor bred).

In an unrelated incident in 2022, police searched Gibbon’s home and found a $78,000 Bobcat excavator inside a machinery shed.

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Gibbon told police at the time that about six months ago, someone had a flat tyre outside his home who asked if he could put the bobcat in his shed.

He told officers he used the machine, which had 155 hours of operation recorded on it.

Gibbon’s lawyer told the court despite his offending, Gibbon was hard working, relied upon and was held in high regard.

He said his client had vast knowledge of the cattle industry — especially in the Gippsland area — and that all the cattle he sold were healthy and not diseased.

His lawyer added Gibbon had entered an early plea.

Gibbon was bailed and will be sentenced in July.

Originally published as Livestock agent Nathan Gibbon faces Country Court for fraud charges