Victorian accountant jailed for ‘devious’ money-making scheme

In recent sentencing remarks, Judge Gerard Mullaly said Buff’s actions have weakened “the trust the community has in accountants”.

“The whole community and Australian taxpayers suffer as monies needed for important services are not available and thereby honest taxpayers have to carry a heavier burden.

“This in turn can cause a corrosive lack of confidence, even cynicism as to the fairness of the tax system” Judge Mullaly added.

Between February 2009 and May 2013, Buff was “deeply involved” in every aspect of the finances for the family-owned and run O’Hare Group, which consisted of businesses like hotels with resort features, pubs, cafes, security services, and traffic management.

By the time of the offending, Buff adopted a system of informing members of the O’Hare Group of the amount owing and having them either write a cheque or perform an electronic funds transfer with the intention of having it onforwarded to the Australian Taxation Office.

He fraudulently asked for and was provided 116 cheques and four EFTs by falsely claiming the funds were to pay tax bills and liabilities.

Important in this scheme was Buff’s arrangement to have all correspondence from the ATO directed to his own address, “thus ensuring that the O’Hare’s were none the wiser”.

His criminality came undone when ATO correspondence was sent to one of the O’Hare members and a new accountant was hired.

Judge Mullaly said in addition to being an “integral” part of the group’s financial operations, Buff was considered a “loyal” friend.

Despite this relationship, Buff concocted a scheme to exploit their trust in what Judge Mullaly described as “devious”. At one point during the offending period, Buff approached two members and received loans for his “own business difficulties”.

Buff’s lawyer acknowledged the breach of trust and the seriousness of the crimes but sought to describe his methods as “unsophisticated, in the sense that the money that was to go to the ATO was siphoned off”.

“While this is an accurate enough, concise description of what you did, it does not mean … that this was not a sophisticated, cunning, long-term fraud, taking large amounts of money from a family who you had built up a relationship,” Judge Mullaly said.

Buff had earlier been sentenced to a term of imprisonment of similar offending, which included stealing $633,000 from a client and defrauding over $388,000 from the Commonwealth.

In what was described as an act of “brazenness”, Buff assured the O’Hare Group this criminality would not impact their money and businesses and asked them for a character reference to use in court.

“The bitter, indeed cruel irony of that, is palpable.

“You put before [the court] that your criminality was a one-off, out of character and your point was established in part by a reference from a victim in this matter, who you were defrauding over many years and continued to do so as the investigation into your first crimes was unfolding,” Judge Mullaly said.

“This is a matter that powerfully elevates your moral culpability.”

Citation: DPP v Buff [2026] VCC 492.