A former Perth financier who was extradited from the US after defrauding the Australian Taxation Office out of $517,741 by lodging false GST rebates has been jailed for five years.
Gary Andrew Parsons, 53, claimed the GST credits for seven entities on 152 occasions over a 26-month period between 2004 and 2007, and was charged after a lengthy and expensive ATO investigation.
Parsons was due to face a 30-day trial involving more than 100 witnesses and 4000 exhibits in the District Court of WA in October, but pleaded guilty at the last minute and was sentenced on Tuesday.
The court heard he had been a high achiever academically, served in the air force then worked as an investment banker and securities trader, but his life began to unravel in 2002.
He lost a lot of money on an investment, his marriage failed and he started drinking heavily before moving to America.
"He effectively ran away to the US in 2003," defence counsel Sam Vandongen said.
While working with a hedge fund, he created a sophisticated scheme for the rorts, asking for relatively low GST refund amounts in a bid to minimise the chance of detection.
"This was systematic, calculated," prosecutor Linda Black said.
"His only contact with Australia was to rip off Australian taxpayers."
Some of the money went to Parsons' ex-wife, but there was no suggestion she knew he'd obtained it illegally.
When the FBI raided his office, Parsons co-operated to some degree, pointing them to files, and didn't fight extradition.
He spent some time in a US jail before being brought back to Australia and Judge Michael Bowden accepted that had been a difficult experience.
Judge Bowden said the offending was clearly serious as tax fraud was not a victimless crime and was difficult to detect.
"You did what you did for personal gain," the judge said.
Parsons will be eligible for parole after serving half of his term and must pay back the Commonwealth.
ATO assistant commissioner Peter Vujanic said federal authorities were working with international partners to broaden their fight against tax evasion and tax crime to a global scale.
"This case should serve as warning to anyone else contemplating committing tax crime here or overseas - you will be caught," he said.
Australian Associated Press
