Operation Bordelon nets 43 years in jail for 6 defendants involved in $10 million tax fraud
Six people have been sentenced to a combined maximum term of 43 years imprisonment for their part in a $10 million tax fraud and money laundering operation. The 6 were charged and convicted as part of Operation Bordelon, a coordinated investigation of a serious organised criminal syndicate allegedly using labour hire and payroll companies associated with the building and construction industry to defraud the Commonwealth.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) alleged in court that the criminal syndicate ran a tiered structure of corporate entities providing labour hire services, which would receive money to pay the wages and tax of workers. The syndicate then siphoned off money allocated for the Pay-As-You-Go Withholding tax component instead of remitting it to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). These defrauded funds were then moved to companies directed by syndicate members, their relatives and associates, and offshore to Singapore.
The AFP, the ATO and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission partnered through the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce to target the syndicate. The AFP restrained more than $20 million in assets as part of activity relating to Operation Bordelon. This included properties across Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, luxury vehicles and bank accounts. Those proceedings, at the time of publication, remain before the court.
