Director of Courtenay House sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment for running Australia’s largest Ponzi scheme

Location
2024

On 2 September 2024, Tony Iervasi was sentenced in the New South Wales Supreme Court to 11 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of seven years. This followed a plea of guilty to four counts of engaging in dishonest conduct in relation to a financial product or financial service and one count of carrying on an unlicensed financial services business, contrary to ss 1041G and 911A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act) respectively.

Melbourne woman sentenced to four years imprisonment for dishonestly obtaining almost $600,000 in GST refunds

Melbourne woman sentenced to four years imprisonment for dishonestly obtaining almost $600,000 in GST refunds

Ms Tahra Wyntjes lodged 27 false Business Activity Statements (BAS) with the ATO, overstating the total sales, GST on sales and GST on purchases purportedly made for her cleaning business. On 16 October 2024, Ms Wyntjes was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of two years and four months. She was also ordered to pay $599,349 in reparations to the Commissioner of Taxation.

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Melbourne woman sentenced to four years imprisonment for dishonestly obtaining almost $600,000 in GST refunds

Location
2024

On 3 November 2021, Ms Tahra Wyntjes registered herself as a sole trader for a business purportedly providing cleaning services. Between 17 November 2021 and 11 March 2022, she lodged 27 false Business Activity Statements (BAS) with the ATO, comprising eight original BAS and 19 amended BAS lodgements. In the BAS, she overstated the total sales, GST on sales and GST on purchases purportedly made for her cleaning business. Ms Wyntjes did not carry on any business activity and had no business income or expenses throughout the period of offending.

Successful prosecution of criminal cartel leads to substantial fines

Location
2024

In 2019, two Sydney skip bin and waste processing businesses, Bingo Industries and Aussie Skips Bin Services and Aussie Skips Recycling (Aussie Skips) and their respective CEOs, Daniel Tartak and Emmanuel Roussakis, engaged in cartel conduct by agreeing to set higher prices for their building and demolition waste services.