A senior manager of the now defunct Plutus Payroll has admitted to being involved in a conspiracy that allegedly defrauded the Australian Tax Office out of more than A$130 million (US$94 million).
According to the Australian Financial Review, Joshua Meredith Kitson, the company’s former general manager, pleaded guilty in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court to conspiring to dishonestly cause loss to the Commonwealth. Kitson is the first of the 14 people charged over what has been described as the biggest white-collar fraud case in Australian history, to plead guilty.
He is reported to have received more than A$500,000 (US$365,043) disguised as a loan and routed through a trust account operated by his friend and Plutus founder, Simon Anquetil. Kitson is due to be sentenced in the New South Wales Supreme Court following a hearing in February 2019.
Last year, it was also discovered that Plutus Payroll had allegedly been funnelling wage payments through several sub-contracted ‘second-tier’ companies. These companies were effectively operated by a crime syndicate, which only paid a fraction of the income tax required, according to Australian Federal Police.
The scam also affected a number of labour hire firms that had outsourced their payroll operations to Plutus. It was revealed that the key conspirators secretly controlled a separate network of labour hire firms and payroll companies that ended up owing money to the Tax Office too.
Emma Woollacott is a freelance business journalist. Her work has appeared in a wide range of publications, including the Guardian, the Times, Forbes and the BBC.
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A senior manager of the now defunct Plutus Payroll has admitted to being involved in a conspiracy that allegedly defrauded the Australian Tax Office out of more than A$130 million (US$94 million).
According to the Australian Financial Review, Joshua Meredith Kitson, the company’s former general manager, pleaded guilty in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court to conspiring to dishonestly cause loss to the Commonwealth. Kitson is the first of the 14 people charged over what has been described as the biggest white-collar fraud case in Australian history, to plead guilty.
He is reported to have received more than A$500,000 (US$365,043) disguised as a loan and routed through a trust account operated by his friend and Plutus founder, Simon Anquetil. Kitson is due to be sentenced in the New South Wales Supreme Court following a hearing in February 2019.
Last year, it was also discovered that Plutus Payroll had allegedly been funnelling wage payments through several sub-contracted ‘second-tier’ companies. These companies were effectively operated by a crime syndicate, which only paid a fraction of the income tax required, according to Australian Federal Police.
The scam also affected a number of labour hire firms that had outsourced their payroll operations to Plutus. It was revealed that the key conspirators secretly controlled a separate network of labour hire firms and payroll companies that ended up owing money to the Tax Office too.
Emma Woollacott is a freelance business journalist. Her work has appeared in a wide range of publications, including the Guardian, the Times, Forbes and the BBC.
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Australia's Plutus Payroll allegedly at centre of fraud ring
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