For his dishonest actions, a lawyer who was secretly recorded telling his accomplices theirs was “the biggest tax fraud in Australia’s history” has been sentenced to at least nine years in prison.
Dev Menon, 39, and four other people were found guilty in March of planning to defraud the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and deal with criminal gains totaling more than $1 million. These plans were referred to as Plutus Payroll’s tax fraud and money laundering schemes.
Instead of paying the tax authorities for the money it received from genuine customers, the business channeled it through a network of lower-tier businesses, siphoning $105 million in losses between 2014 and 2017.
Menon was secretly heard telling conspiracy theorist Adam Cranston, “It would be the biggest tax fraud in Australia’s history, without a doubt,” among hundreds of other “compelling” recordings shown to the jury during the protracted nine-month trial.
Menon, who helped manage weak straw directors of second-tier companies and had them sign fictitious documents exposing them to significant tax liabilities, gave co-conspirators advice on how to try to avoid detection, Justice Anthony Payne found, became a knowing participant in the conspiracy at least as early as June 2015.
In the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday, he sentenced the attorney and accountant to a combined 14 years in prison with a nine-year non-parole period.
Menon claimed one of the straw directors was “not smart enough to sit in a meeting with the ATO,” suggesting that they were not actually able to carry out their duties.
He hid those opinions and afterwards told a lie to Revenue NSW claiming that those same directors were lawful, all of which the judge deemed to be “completely discreditable conduct” for an attorney.
It was offered in support of him. Menon produced significant and worthwhile legal work for which he was fairly compensated.
Justice Payne remarked, “This rather misses the point.
Menon’s involvement in one of the most major tax fraud and money laundering conspiracies was made worse by his abuse of his professional stature and the faith placed in it, and he has shown no signs of regret or sorrow.
Justice Payne acknowledged that Menon’s family was burdened by his imprisonment and that his child had a “very serious” medical condition, but despite these “heartbreaking circumstances” and the conclusion that Menon was not primarily motivated by greed, Menon was nonetheless sentenced to prison.
Menon appeared via video link from the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre in Sydney’s west at Silverwater, shaking his head, which was in his hand.
In May 2032, he will be eligible for parole.
