Former accounting manager Jason Richard Poser was sentenced in the District Court in Adelaide last week after pleading guilty to 34 counts of aggravated theft.
Poser formerly held a senior role at SMSF specialist firm SuperGuardian and was responsible for the management of around 500 funds. He prepared tax returns and activity statements for these clients.
The 34 counts of aggravated theft relate to Poser stealing $2,172,733.57 from 33 victims. The charged offending occurred between May 2020 and August 2022.
As part of his role, Poser would inform his clients of the money payable to the ATO as part of their tax obligations. However, when the client paid the ATO, he did not submit the activity statement or tax return to the ATO.
The client’s payment was therefore considered by the ATO to be a credit. Subsequently, Poser then logged onto the ATO client portal, changed the clients’ banking details to his personal banking details, and then requested a refund of the credited amount to his own bank account.
The ATO would then transfer the money to his bank account, believing it was being returned to the client.
The amounts he stole ranged from around $20,000 to $400,000. The stolen money was used to place thousands of bets with Poser placing over 26,000 sports bets between January and October 2022 alone.
Losses incurred by Poser’s victims were repaid in full by SuperGuardian within 12 months of the fraud first being detected.
The owners of the firm obtained a bank loan and utilized personal assets to cover the shortfall between the insurance payout and the losses suffered by clients as a result of the offending.
Poser was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of three years and 11 months’ imprisonment.
In handing down the sentence, the court noted the financial stress and emotional toil inflicted on the owners of SuperGuardian as a consequence of the offences.
“They have, understandably, been concerned for their business, for their employees, for their clients and for their families,” the judge said.
“Both are now faced with the challenge of re-establishing the trust they have built up over many years with their clients and the prospect of working for a longer period to meet the additional financial burdens your offending has caused them.”
The court also said that the offences in 2022 occurred at a time where there was no prospect of Poser repaying the money and when there has been adequate time for him to reflect on the offending.
“By that time you would have had significant time to reflect on the criminality and consequences of your offending, but nonetheless chose to continue to offend,” the court said.
