ABBOTSFORD, Victoria (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Talentworks LTD CEO and John Farnham manager Glenn Wheatley has admitted to channeling more than AU$650,000 through Swiss trusts in a series of “calculated and systematic” tax fraud schemes over a decade.
Wheatley pleaded guilty to three charges that could land him in jail for 10 years, after cooperating with a long-running fraud investigation.
Wheatly told the Victorian County Court of his shame over the schemes that were used to avoid paying AU$318,092 in tax earned from a Farnham tour in 1990s and a Kostya Tszyu fight, according to The Australian.
Wheatley pleaded guilty to defrauding the commonwealth, one charge under the Bankruptcy Act of failing to declare income to the trustee of a failed music venue development, and one of dishonestly obtaining a financial gain.
Wheatley also agreed to provide evidence against a close business associate of the secretive Swiss-based accountant Philip Egglishaw. Wheatley’s lawyers alleged the man “courted” Wheatley, seducing him into the fraud schemes.
The music promoter told the plea hearing that he deeply regretted his criminal behavior.
“I’m ashamed of what I’ve done,” he said, according to the paper. “It was something that I’ve regretted for a long, long time and I am ashamed for what I have brought on to my family.”
Wheatley was commended for his complete cooperation with the investigation and for the guilty plea, but prosecutor Richard Maidment SC asked for an immediate term of imprisonment, as the white-collar crimes had been “calculated and systematic” with an “element of sophistication that involved a high degree of planning.”
Wheatley admitted to failing to declare AU$256,410 in income earned from John Farnham’s 1994 “Talk of the Town Tour,” and claimed four fraudulent tax deductions between 1996 and 2000 of AU$50,475 as interest payments on a fake loan.
Several stars have come out to support the fallen music industry legend, including Farnham and television star Bert Newton, hoping to help Wheatley avoid jail time.
Wheatley is currently on bail awaiting sentencing at a later date. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
