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A conspirator of the Plutus Payroll tax scandal has now been sentenced to over three years in jail after pleading guilty to laundering over $200,000.
Plutus Payroll ‘lackey’ sentenced to over 3 years in jail
24 February 2020
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7 minute read
Aaron Paul has now been sentenced at the Parramatta District Court to three years and four months in jail for dealing in proceeds of crime amounting to $260,000, in connection with Operation Elbrus.
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Mr Paul is one of 14 individuals charged over the Plutus Payroll scandal, a large-scale and organised tax fraud conspiracy, which is alleged to involve payroll services companies to divert pay-as-you-go withholding tax and goods and services tax owed to the ATO.
The fraud has been estimated to skim $105 million from the ATO.
Mr Paul’s sentencing comes after he was described by his barrister as merely a “lackey” for co-accused Adam Cranston, son of former ATO deputy commissioner Michael Cranston.
Michael Cranston has since been cleared of charges relating to misusing his position to benefit his son and the Plutus tax scandal.
Mr Paul’s conviction comes after the successful prosecution of Joshua Kitson, the former general manager of Plutus Payroll, who pled guilty to conspiring to defraud the Commonwealth in August last year and was sentenced to four years and six months in jail, with a non-parole period of three years.
Chief of the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce and ATO deputy commissioner Will Day welcomed the sentence handed down.
“These sorts of crimes impact on real people,” Mr Day said.
“Tax fraud removes money from the revenue system that could be used by government to fund essential services and initiatives to benefit the Australian community.
“These outcomes highlight the commitment of government agencies involved in the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce to bring the most serious offenders of tax fraud to account.”
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