A court has heard that two pals from high school used insider information to wager thousands of dollars on the winners of three Australian of the Year awards.
Following the revelation of their plan’s specifics, James Dawkins, 39, and Dean Young, 38, appeared before the Dandenong Magistrate’s Court in Melbourne on Thursday.
Dawkins entered a guilty plea to charges of encouraging, abetting, advising, or procuring the misuse of public office, while Young entered a guilty plea to a single charge of abusing public office.
Dawkins worked for the Commonwealth at Australia Post, and Young used that information to make scores of wagers on the awards between 2017 and 2019.
He was employed by Australia Post at the time as a project coordinator, where before the awards were revealed, stamps with the winners of the Australian of the Year competition were printed.
Young, a resident of Mount Martha, is accused by the Australian Federal Police of receiving $13,302 from the wagers.
The pals made $2614 in 2017 and $1325 in 2019, yet they won $9363 from 20 bets in 2017 alone. Over the course of three years, winners included Craig Challen and Richard Harris, Thai cave rescuers, Alan Mackay-Sim, a biological expert, and Michelle Simmons, a quantum physicist.
When the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission revealed betting anomalies at the 2022 Australian of the Year awards, the men’s plot came tumbling down.
This required looking into conversations that Young made to Dawkins, who had already signed a non-disclosure agreement, hours after he was informed of the winners’ identities.
Stephen Schembri, Young’s attorney, told the court that his client was “extremely remorseful” for his involvement in the bets, but he did not offer an explanation for the actions.
“He still cannot explain why he would act in such a stupid irresponsible way – he calls it the worst thing that he’s ever done,” he stated.
“He’s no master criminal clearly, neither is Mr Dawkins.”
AFP Based on insider information, Detective Superintendent Glenn Tod stated that authorities were dedicated to thwarting significant financial crime.
“The misuse of official or privileged information erodes public trust in our institutions,” Tod stated.
“The consequences for those abusing positions of trust can be extremely serious.”
The case was postponed until after sentencing.
