The former deputy tax commissioner’s son will serve at least 10 years in prison for defrauding taxpayers out of millions of dollars.
For his involvement in the Plutus Payroll tax fraud and money laundering schemes, Adam Cranston received a sentence today.
The 36-year-old was given a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a 10-year non-parole period.
After a protracted trial starting in April 2022, he and four other defendants, including his younger sister, were found guilty in March.
Between March 2014 and the time of their arrests in May 2017, they planned to harm the Commonwealth and deal with the proceeds of crime.
Michael Cranston, a former deputy tax commissioner who was absolved of any wrongdoing in 2019, is the father of Cranston.
More than $105 million that was supposed to be given to the tax office was stolen by the organization via Plutus Payroll and its network of secondary businesses, which were controlled by duplicitous pawns.
Any argument that Cranston was mislead on the plot was rejected by Justice Anthony Payne, who referred to the argument that the conspirator believed Plutus to be a successful business as “preposterous”.
“He was involved in the inner workings of the conspiracy and knew at all times that Plutus was not legitimate or profitable,” he said as he handed out Cranston’s punishment in the NSW Supreme Court.
The fact that Plutus used lower-tier businesses as part of its scam was kept a secret from the company’s real clients.
Those companies were run by “vulnerable, unsophisticated” individuals who didn’t comprehend them.
For his contributions, Cranston personally received more than $6.8 million. He was secretly recorded outlining the scope of the deception.
“Honest taxpayers are left with a legitimate sense of grievance, which is itself divisive,” he claimed.
After being found guilty in March, Cranston has been in detention, where he made an appearance on-screen.
On Tuesday, former professional snowboarder Jason Onley, 53, another conspirator, will also receive a sentence from Payne.
He co-owned the lower-tier businesses that served as the scheme’s “engine” with Cranston, the judge claimed.
