A Sydney construction boss and four others have been found guilty of a conspiracy to defraud Australia’s tax office of more than US$7.1m over two years.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports that George Alex, 53, is expected to face a lengthy sentence after conspiring with four others to appropriate payroll taxes from workers’ wages.
The case was decided by a jury in the New South Wales Supreme Court yesterday, after a trial that began in February and a deliberation period that lasted 17 days.
The other defendants in the case were Pasquale Loccisano, 54, Lindsay John Kirschberg, 65, Gordon McAndrew, 62 and Mark Ronald Bryers, 66. They were all found guilty of conspiring to cause a loss to the Commonwealth.
The five were also found guilty of either conspiring to, or intentionally dealing with, proceeds of crime worth more than US$700,000.
The group used “shield” companies to withhold pay-as-you-go tax from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) between 2018 and 2020.
About $125,000 was deducted each week in 2018 and 2019 and kept from the ATO.
McAndrew and Kirschberg sent workers their net pay without remitting the deductions to the ATO, under instructions from Alex.
Loccisano acted as a go-between, passing information and directions between Alex and the others.
Alex’s 26-year-old son Arthur was acquitted of conspiring to cause a loss and of conspiring to deal with the proceeds of crime.
The five men will be sentenced at a later date.
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