Skip to navigationSkip to contentSkip to footerHelp using this website - Accessibility statement
Advertisement

Organised crime

Yesterday

AFP arrest one man in Melbourne’s Glen Iris.

‘Shiny shopfronts’ led police to bust $10b Chinese crime ring

Seven people have been arrested in connection to an alleged Chinese money laundering ring whose operators were said to lead lives of luxury.

  • Patrick Durkin

This Month

Why NZ’s likely new PM channels Mark McGowan

The man widely tipped to become New Zealand’s next prime minister says he’s looked to Australia to develop many of his signature policies.

  • Tom Rabe

August

Woolworths Group had a strong second half in fiscal 2023.

Food spurs Woolies growth, but toasters off the menu

The supermarket group says food price inflation is easing, but sales at its discount chain softened dramatically in the fourth quarter.

  • Updated
  • Carrie LaFrenz
Australian Border Force says illicit tobacco is a growing industry for organised crime groups.

Illegal tobacco, rising cigarette prices dent supermarket profits

Master Grocers Association chief David Inall says illicit tobacco is a significant concern for its 2700 members, mostly independent grocery and liquor stores.

  • Carrie LaFrenz

July

Dev Menon outside court in Sydney in February 2023.

Plutus lawyer jailed nine years for ‘biggest tax fraud’

Dev Menon’s abuse of his professional status and the trust placed in it exacerbated his persistent course of conduct throughout his involvement.

  • Jack Gramenz
Advertisement

June

The lawyer found guilty of the Plutus tax fraud Dev Menon is expected to be sentenced in the coming days.

Corrupt lawyer in Plutus tax fraud ‘abused trust’

Prosecutors are gunning for a stiff sentence for a senior conspirator in the $105 million Plutus tax fraud, saying his status as a lawyer made his offending worse.

  • David Marin-Guzman

May

Siblings Lauren and Adam Cranston leave Darlinghurst Courthouse in 2022.

Lauren Cranston jailed for eight years for Plutus tax fraud

The daughter of a former deputy tax commissioner has been sentenced to eight years in prison for her role in one of Australia’s largest tax frauds after the judge found she showed no remorse.

  • Updated
  • David Marin-Guzman

April

Councils in Sydney’s inner and eastern suburbs are allowing hardly any new construction.

Accountants, estate agents may have to report dirty cash suspicions

As many as 100,000 accountants, lawyers and real estate agents look set to be required by law to report suspicious financial transactions to authorities.

  • Tom McIlroy

March

Sevag Chalabian has been a colourful figure before and after the Plutus arrests.

Obeid lawyer jailed over Plutus blackmail

Controversial Sydney lawyer Sevag Chalabian has been sentenced to up to 12 years prison for laundering $24 million in blackmail money in relation to the Plutus tax fraud.

  • David Marin-Guzman and Neil Chenoweth

Myer working with undercover cops to stem theft

Retailers across Australia are dealing with increased rates of theft, including from organised crime groups.

  • Carrie LaFrenz

February

Gamblers lose nearly $4 billion on poker machines in NSW clubs every year.

There are ethical ways to live with the thrill of gambling

The fun of betting on uncertain outcomes is not a problem. But addiction, organised crime and ubiquity make excessive gaming a social ill that needs a policy fix.

  • Simon Longstaff

October 2022

Companies are facing even greater threats from hackers.

Worried about getting hacked? Here are the latest extortion methods

As pernicious as the Optus data breach is, companies face even greater threats from hackers as they find more sophisticated ways to profit from crime.

  • Sally Patten

July 2022

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has encouraged an army of hackers that has had success interfering in western companies.

How Kim Jong-un uses crypto to hack through the pandemic

Poor, isolated and heavily sanctioned, Kim Jong Un’s regime has turned to lucrative cryptocurrency heists to raise funds, snagging $US620 million in April alone.

  • Choe Sang-Hun and David Yaffe-Bellany

April 2022

The shift from hostility and rejection of crypto assets to a cautious embrace of the sector by the finance establishment means there is an increasingly compelling need for crypto assets to be included in banking and finance regulatory frameworks.

AUSTRAC wants banks to identify, report suspicious crypto activity

Banks have been given lists of behavioural indicators suggesting customers may be using crypto to launder money or purchase illicit products on the darknet.

  • James Eyers

February 2022

Colin McLaren

How I went from spying on the Mafia to studying its history

Former undercover cop Colin McLaren spent years researching the origins of the organisation he risked his life to bring to justice.

  • Colin McLaren
Advertisement

November 2021

The Australian Federal Police say the country is a lucrative market for organised crime and that it had seized almost $500 million in the past 2½ years.

Lawyers and accountants ‘helping organised crime’

White collar “gatekeepers” are helping organised criminals launder hundreds of millions of dollars in and out of Australia, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission has warned.

  • John Kehoe and Patrick Durkin

June 2021

AFR

Top tax cop warns about organised crime recruiting professionals

The nation’s top tax crime fighter has warned about the recruitment of lawyers, currency and tax professionals into sophisticated criminal networks.

  • Duncan Hughes
Police set up criminals to use a handset with an encrypted communications app known as “AN0M” and spied on their messages as part of Operation Ironside.

Crime bust triggers political row over new police powers

Scott Morrison accuses Labor of blocking new laws that would give police greater powers. Labor says the PM is lying.

  • Andrew Tillett
Prime Minister Scott Morrison addresses the media on Tuesday about the cross-border raids made possible by the police-controlled communications app.

PM seizes on crime bust to push surveillance agenda

Scott Morrison rushed to take credit for a stunning AFP criminal bust using an encrypted app, but he also made misleading claims about surveillance legislation.

  • Paul Smith

April 2021

Search warrants were executed in Lidcombe, Bass Hill, Monterey, Merrylands, Granville, South Granville, Bankstown and Ryde.

Cash, cars and crypto seized in western Sydney NDIS raids

Six people have been arrested for allegedly defrauding the National Disability Insurance Scheme of more than $10 million while splurging on luxury goods and gold bullion.

  • James Frost