Bookkeeper who bought plane, cars, property for tax fraudster guilty

Cranston was sentenced in August to 15 years’ prison for his lead role in the conspiracy. From late 2015 to early 2017 he used Mr Guillan and his entity, G&T Holdings, to buy 19 vehicles and place a deposit on a property.

The purchases included a Cirrus SR22 single-engine aircraft, a Ford Ranger ute, a luxury Glaston GT-180 speedboat, two Ducati motorcycles, two Subarus, an eco-suite caravan, a Gulf GT racing car, a truck to transport the race car, and a quad bike.

Mr Guillan also used the tax fraud money to buy a Porsche for Cranston’s brother, a 1967 Ford Mustang, and put a deposit on a property for Cranston.

While he was doing this, Mr Guillan was given exclusive day-to-day use of a $166,000 2016 Porsche.

Mr Guillan claimed he had believed he was making purchases for a luxury car rental business for Bankstown Airport and that only in February 2017, when Cranston explained the fraud to him, did he realise he had been used.

But Ms Paingakulam said the purchases were “plainly not for a luxury car business”, pointing to the plane, the quad bike and the Subarus – “hardly a luxury car”.

Mr Guillan’s barrister Paul Coady objected, arguing both sides had agreed they were luxury cars even if some “don’t look like luxury cars”.

Cranston’s multitude of cars was famously noticed by his father Michael Cranston, when he was recorded on police wiretaps replying to his son’s claim that he had no unexplained wealth with “you’ve got a lot of fucking cars, mate”. Michael Cranston is not accused of wrongdoing.

The Crown charged Mr Guillan with recklessly dealing with proceeds of crime worth more than $1 million from September 2015 to February 2017 and then knowingly dealing with proceeds of crime worth less than $100,000, with that amount totalling $92,900.

While the Crown conceded Mr Guillan did not know that he was laundering proceeds of crime until it was spelled out for him in 2017, Ms Paingakulum argued he still engaged in “wilful blindness” and he knew G&T had no revenue and knew who the purchases were for.

When the Australian Tax Office started cracking down on the fraud, Mr Guillan referred a friend to the conspirators to act as a Plutus straw director.

He later offered to burn documents, but his offer was not taken up.

For his work, Mr Guillan received $155,000 of “consulting fees” and substantial payment of a loan. His benefit surpassed $300,000 once his use of the Porsche was included, the Crown argued.

Mr Guillan said he was “motivated by greed” and regretted his choices.

But his barrister Mr Coady stressed Mr Guillan’s offending fell at the top of the low range of offending and argued he should be subject to an intensive corrections order as an alternative to prison.

Mr Guillan was not “a trusted lieutenant” or a person of authority, Mr Coady argued, and “there was no cash in brown paper bags delivered late at night, no false invoices, no false tax returns, no clandestine meetings”.

He said it would have been more serious if the quantum was higher or if “Mr Guillan’s half-baked attempts to ingratiate himself with the conspirators were taken up”.

Judge Warwick Hunt said he would deliver the sentence on Wednesday.