We act in complex Northern Territory and Commonwealth prosecutions, including fraud, money laundering, taxation and proceeds of crime matters.
Our expertise in fraud and Commonwealth offences includes (but is not limited to)
- Drug importation
- People smuggling
- Fraud and financial crime
- Money laundering
- Sexual servitude
- Centrelink fraud
- Corruption
These cases are built out of documents
Fraud and financial crime prosecutions look nothing like other criminal matters. There is rarely a single incident, rarely an eyewitness, and rarely a moment where something obviously went wrong.
Instead there are years of banking records, invoices, contracts, business documents, emails, accounting files and phone data. The prosecution's case is an argument that a pattern emerges from all of it. The defence is frequently an argument that the pattern has an innocent explanation, or that it does not establish what the prosecution says it does.
That has three practical consequences. These matters take a long time. They are document-heavy in a way that demands genuine forensic work rather than a quick review of the brief. And the outcome often turns on the accounting as much as the law.
Investigations begin long before charges
By the time a person is charged with a serious fraud offence, the investigation has usually been running for a year or more. Bank records have been obtained, notices have been issued, accounts may already be restrained, and the investigating agency has had a great deal of time to build its case.
If you have received a notice to produce documents, learned that your bank has been served, or been asked to attend an interview, that is the moment to get advice. Not when you are charged.
Some investigative bodies have coercive powers that override the usual right to silence, and the rules about what can later be used against you are complicated. Handling that badly at the start is very difficult to repair later.
Commonwealth matters are different
Where the offence is against Commonwealth law (Centrelink and tax matters, offences against Commonwealth agencies, money laundering, some large-scale frauds) the prosecution is conducted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, sentencing is governed by Commonwealth legislation, and the relevant considerations differ from those applying to Territory offences.
Restitution and reparation carry particular weight in Commonwealth sentencing, and steps taken before the matter is finalised can materially affect the outcome.
Restraint of assets runs in parallel
Fraud and money laundering prosecutions are frequently accompanied by restraining orders over bank accounts, businesses, vehicles and real property.
This process is separate from the criminal case and moves on its own timetable. It can begin before conviction and can affect your access to money for ordinary living expenses, business operations and legal fees.
Property forfeiture and proceeds of crime →
How these cases are defended
Issues commonly include whether dishonesty can be proved as opposed to poor record-keeping or commercial failure, whether the accused knew what the prosecution says they knew, the accuracy and completeness of the financial analysis, the admissibility of material obtained through coercive powers, the quantification of alleged loss, and whether the person had authority to do what they did.
Where liability is not seriously in issue, the work shifts to quantum, restitution and sentence, and there is a great deal that can be achieved there with proper preparation.