Cruel words ATO boss’s daughter Lauren Cranston spat about her hapless pawns

The daughter of a former deputy tax commissioner, who took part in a $105 million fraud conspiracy, mocked unwitting puppets in the scheme as “maniacs” and “crazy” in secret recordings.

Lauren Cranston knew that straw executives used in the Plutus Payroll conspiracy – one of Australia’s biggest scammers – had several drug and mental health issues while actively participating in them.

Cranston, who still doesn’t believe she did anything wrong, was sentenced Monday to at least five years in prison following a mammoth trial that began last April in NSW’s Supreme Court.

Justice Anthony Payne discovered the 30-year-old was a “trusted participant” in the plot and acted out of misplaced loyalty to her older brother, Adam.

Cranston was found guilty in March of conspiring with four others, including her brother Adam, to cause loss to the Commonwealth and to handle the proceeds of crime.

Under the conspiracy, legitimate customers, attracted by Plutus Payroll’s lack of service fees, sent money to the company to pay wages, taxes and pensions.

The funds were then funneled through second-rate companies with straw directors who were “unsophisticated and vulnerable people” and didn’t understand what was going on.

More than $141 million was passed through the scheme, transferring approximately $105 million that should have been paid to the Australian tax authorities.

Justice Payne said Cranston was secretly taped speaking about the straw directors in conversations that made it clear she knew they had no knowledge of the companies’ day-to-day operations.

“In numerous conversations, Ms. Cranston voluntarily expresses her opinion of them, including that they are ‘maniacs’ and ‘crazy’,” Judge Payne said in his verdict.

Cranston was found guilty in March of conspiring with four others, including her older brother Adam Cranston (above) to cause loss to the Commonwealth and handle the proceeds of crime

Cranston was recorded calling a straw director “stupid” and joking that she was on a “bender.” A co-conspirator then asked Cranston how one of the principals had found such dupes, whom she described as “druggies.”

“I have no idea,” Cranston replied.

When another co-conspirator called a straw director “moron and illiterate,” Cranston said, “Yeah, right. Oh my God. Where did we find him?’

The Cranston siblings are the children of former Deputy Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Michael Cranston, who had no knowledge of the fraud and was never implicated in any wrongdoing.

The Plutus Payroll Conspiracy was hatched during meetings in “gentlemen’s clubs,” which Cranston was unaware of and did not participate in, Judge Payne found.

Lauren and Adam Cranston were arrested in May 2017 after a lengthy operation by the Australian Federal Police. Adam Cranston used the money he took to fund a lavish lifestyle. Some of the money seized by the police is depicted

Although she was not involved in the initial planning stages, Cranston knowingly remained involved in the conspiracy as of at least February 2015 as a “trusted participant,” the judge said.

Cranston acted according to instructions but understood its operation and knew she played a central role in facilitating money laundering and tax fraud conspiracies, which she also sought to conceal.

By the time authorities listened in, she showed her knowledge of the plan’s history.

“At least we pay some taxes,” Cranston said.

Cranston earned about $182,000 primarily from participating at the bottom of the conspiracy hierarchy out of misplaced loyalty to her older brother, the judge said.

She had shown no remorse.

“The perpetrator still appears to believe that she and her co-conspirators have done nothing wrong,” said Judge Payne.

‘… There was no acknowledgment by Mrs Cranston, or on her behalf, that any crime had been committed here, by anyone, much less repented…’.

Items including jewelery and cash seized by the police who arrested the Cranston siblings are displayed at a press conference at AFP headquarters in Sydney

Cranston’s attorney Troy Anderson SC had claimed his client was “young, artless and disinterested,” Judge Payne said.

“Although Mrs. Cranston acted according to instructions, I find that at all relevant moments she understood the mechanisms of the accounting of the second-tier companies,” he found.

“Ms. Cranston knew she played a central role in facilitating tax fraud and money laundering conspiracies.”

Justice Payne said the fraud was not a victimless crime.

“The non-payment of more than $100 million in taxes occurred in the years immediately prior to the pandemic,” he said.

At that time, appeals to government services were as urgent as they have been since the Great Depression.

“The loss of more than $100 million that would otherwise have been available to fund government services is a very significant loss incurred by all Australians.”

Cranston, who received a maximum prison sentence of eight years, will be eligible for parole in March 2028.