Autistic taxman jailed for fraud

A man "crippled" by a lifelong autism spectrum disorder who became an accountant and then defrauded the Tax Office of $2.4 million in GST refunds has been jailed for a maximum of four years.

It was argued that jail would "terrify and traumatise" Philip Solimon Tadros who learned by rote to pass VCE with a university entry score of 65, completed his course but took six years to gain a practising certificate.

Melbourne's County Court heard the son of two doctors, despite his low IQ and poor cognitive functioning, skilfully scammed the money over eight weeks, deposited it in 14 bank accounts and then bought five investment properties in New Zealand.

Tadros – who will serve a minimum of two years – had described to colleagues his purchases in New Zealand and Australia as “my property empire".
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Forensic psychologist Patrick Newton could not explain how Tadros managed the business negotiations "and he can't explain it to me either".

Clinical psychiatrist Dr Danny Sullivan noted that despite the diagnosis of the disorder and his intellectual functioning, Tadros had completed VCE, obtained tertiary qualifications and worked as an accountant.

Judge Mark Taft on Monday said Dr Sullivan considered Tadros' "capacity to reason morally" had only been mildly impaired by his condition.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Taft said it was "remarkable" that after the Australian Tax Office had been told in May, 2009, by a tax agent that refund notices from the ATO for claims it had not lodged were deposited into a bank account in Tadros' name, that same agent reported the next month further "irregularities" involving $88,000 also paid into the account.

Judge Taft said a tax officer rang Tadros who told him a colleague was responsible for the refunds which Tadros promised to return but never did.

"Remarkably, and despite the fact that you had been put on notice that the ATO had detected your dishonest conduct, you continued to offend after an interval of some seven weeks," he told Tadros.

"It beggars belief that you were able to continue offending after the ATO spoke to you on June 9, 2011," Judge said, adding that the "community legitimately expects that public revenues will be better protected".

Prosecutor Krista Breckweg earlier said that between March and November 2011, while a tax accountant at a Hawthorn firm, Tadros altered 127 business activity statements and received $2,417,000.

Ms Breckweg said when initially queried by the Tax Office about some refunds, Tadros blamed a colleague and resumed offending.

She submitted that the factors in mitigation were "not so powerful as to justify anything other than immediate jail".

Tadros pleaded guilty to five charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception and one of attempting to do so.

Defence barrister Patrick Tehan, QC, had described the "sad case of a young man from a decent, hard-working family who committed these offences because he saw the world through the prism of autism spectrum disorder".

Mr Tehan said Tadros, 32, who had repaid about $2 million, had high-functioning autism with low comprehension and ethical deficits and obsessive, repetitive behaviour that had "crippled" him.

Mr Newton had told Judge Taft that Tadros suffered “pervasive and profound social and interpersonal difficulties” and that his reasoning about moral issues were to the level of sophistication "roughly equivalent to that of a child in the early years of primary school".

Jail would "terrify and traumatise" him, he said in evidence.

Dr Sullivan said Tadros knew his conduct was wrong but his disorder "reduced his capacity to think through the consequences of his behaviour".

Judge Taft told Tadros it was evident that Dr Sullivan "considers that your capacity to reason morally has only been mildly impaired by your condition".

Judge Taft said Mr Tehan had "vigorously" submitted that any sentence be greatly moderated by the underlying diagnosis of his disorder, but the judge told Tadros that it "must not be overlooked that the objective gravity of your offending is considerable ..."

He categorised the offending as "most serious" and was systematic and sustained, motivated by greed and "perhaps a need to see yourself as a success".

Judge Taft told Tadros his dishonesty was planned and purposeful, a serious breach of trust, he had selected targets he considered susceptible to defrauding and was "acutely conscious of your need to conceal your conduct".