Lauren Cranston, the daughter of a former deputy commissioner of the Australian Taxation Office, has been sentenced to a maximum of eight years in prison for her role in a $105 million tax fraud conspiracy.

Along with four others including her brother Adam, last month Cranston was found guilty of two charges over a scheme that ran for about three years to 2017.

A long-running Supreme Court trial heard the conspirators ripped off the federal government by keeping millions in GST and Pay As You Go (PAYG) tax through a complex web of second-tier companies.

A legitimate company, Plutus Payroll, appeared "squeaky clean" and tax compliant but money was siphoned off through the lower-level companies with dummy directors, a jury was told.

The Cranstons are the children of former Australian Taxation Office (ATO) deputy commissioner Michael Cranston, who was not accused of involvement.

Cranston's role in the conspiracy was to process payroll runs for Plutus and operate the email accounts of the second-tier companies, which a judge today found fell "towards the bottom of the hierarchy".

Justice Anthony Payne said she was not involved in the initial planning and set up of Plutus, but found her participation began no later than February 2015.

The judge said he harboured "strong suspicions" about her state of knowledge prior to that, despite her barrister urging an inference that she was young, unsophisticated and lacking in curiosity.

"I do not accept at any time Ms Cranston was lacking in curiosity about what she was doing," Justice Payne said in sentencing.

The judge handed her a non-parole period of five years, which will expire in March 2028 with a head sentence of eight years.

Cranston appeared via video link and began to sob upon learning her fate and covered her mouth with her hand.

Cranston had 'misguided sense of loyalty'

Justice Payne said the offences involved a high degree of dishonesty and a corresponding breach of trust but Cranston was not principally motivated by greed, having only benefited by about $181,000.

"Her participation was primarily the result of a misguided sense of loyalty to the people directing the conspiracies, particularly her brother," he said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-01/lauren-cranston-sentenced-for-tax-fraud-conspiracy/102285782

Oregon governor orders audit of her secretary of state for having consulting job with marijuana firm

"I'm very dismayed," Oregon Democrat Gov. Tina Kotek said upon learning Secretary of State Shemia Fagan has the consulting job.

Oregon's Democrat governor has asked the state's ethics commission and Justice Department to investigate Secretary of State Shemia Fagan’s having a consulting job with a marijuana firm, saying she's "dismayed" by the revelations.

"I'm very dismayed,” Gov. Tina Kotek said at a press conference on the issue Saturday, two days after revelations about Fagan's consulting job, according to the Oregonian.

Fagan said in a statement she is "relieved that the governor has asked the [state's] DOJ and Government Ethics Commission to engage in fact finding because the facts will restore trust in our audits division and in me as your secretary of state."

Fagan, a Democrat, is a paid consultant of an affiliate of marijuana retail chain La Mota, according to the Associated Press.

Fagan's consulting job, which her office says does not violate state ethics laws, came into the spotlight Thursday after her office released an audit, from which she recused herself, of Oregon's marijuana regulators that called on them to “reform” some rules for marijuana businesses.

The audit was of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission and also said some of the group's rules are "burdens" when combined with federal restrictions on interstate commerce, banking and taxation, the wire service also reports.

Fagan's office said Fagan recused herself because she is a paid consultant of an affiliate of marijuana retail chain La Mota.

La Mota’s co-owner has hosted fundraisers for top Democratic Oregon politicians including Fagan.

The co-owner, her partner and their business allegedly owe $1.7 million in unpaid bills and more in state and federal taxes, a Portland weekly reports.

Fagan has not said how much the consultancy pays.

State Republican lawmakers are calling for her resignation.

"This appears to be an ethics violation, and if it isn’t then Oregon’s ethics laws are broken," Senate Republican leader Tim Knopp and House Republican leader Vikki Breese-Iverson said in a joint statement, also according to the Associated Press.

https://justthenews.com/government/state-houses/oregon-governor-orders-audit-her-secretary-state-having-consulting-job