Jaicome Spinella, of West End, Brisbane, Queensland, has been convicted of fraud and sentenced to four years imprisonment.

Mr Spinella is the former director of Bauen Concrete Pty Ltd ACN 609 560 492 (Bauen), a company that provided concrete services to the building and construction industry in Victoria.

ASIC’s investigation found that between December 2016 and July 2017, Mr Spinella fraudulently used a credit card issued to Bauen to access $3,131,718.82 to wager bets through a digital gambling account (MR 20-241).

As a result of Mr Spinella’s conduct, Bauen was unable to pay its liabilities and was placed in liquidation on 25 July 2017. At the time Bauen was placed in liquidation, it owed 166 creditors $6,738,523.

In handing down the sentence, Judge Cahill noted that the conduct constituted a ‘serious abuse of trust, involved a substantial amount of money over a long period of time and caused the company to fail’. Judge Cahill added that ‘the company’s failure caused substantial financial harm to creditors and employees’.

Mr Spinella appeared and was convicted in the County Court of Victoria on 8 June 2021. The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

Background

ASIC commenced an investigation after receiving a report from Shane Deane and Nicholas Giasoumi of Dye and Co. who were appointed liquidators of Bauen. The liquidators were funded to provide the report through the Assetless Administration Fund.

Mr Spinella was convicted on one count of obtaining financial advantage by deception contrary to section 82(1) of the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic).

As a consequence of his conviction, Mr Spinella is automatically disqualified from managing corporations for five years upon his release from prison.