Sentencing submission helps man avoid imprisonment for criminal proceeds offence
A Sydney man charged with four counts of dealing with criminal proceeds with a total value of almost half a million dollars ($440,000) walked away with an intensive corrections order (ICO) and community service. This was thanks to the sentencing submission made to the court by Australian Criminal Law Group’s Criminal Lawyer Joseph Correy.
Sydney man receives lenient sentence for dealing with criminal proceeds related charges
The defendant, a young father of two, stood before the court to be sentenced for three counts of Deal with property where there are reasonable grounds to suspect the property is criminal proceeds (more than $100,000) and one count of Deal with property where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the property is criminal proceeds (less than $100,000). The defendant had illegally received transferred funds of a total of $440,000 and transferred them overseas to Nigeria. All the transactions took place in the same month in 2018.
The defendant, having been told to make the transactions by a third party, said he believed that they were legitimate. He did, however, admit that he should have suspected that they were fraudulent, even though he did not at the time he received the monies into his account. The man had originally been charged the more serious offences of knowingly dealing with criminal proceeds, however, in negotiations with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, our criminal lawyers had the charges downgraded to Deal with property reasonably suspected of being criminal proceeds, a less serious offence.
Under a tiered offence structure, as per the Crimes Act 1900, should the man have been sentenced based on him knowingly having dealt with property that was criminal proceeds, or recklessly having dealt with property that was criminal proceeds, he could have faced a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment or 10 years imprisonment in the District Court for those respective offences. However, the lesser charges carried a maximum penalty of 2 years imprisonment in the Local Court where he was sentenced because of the plea deal negotiated by our criminal lawyers.
Thanks to sentencing submissions made by criminal lawyer, Joseph Correy, the man received a sentence that was lenient, avoiding gaol time entirely with an Intensive Correction Order being imposed. In other words, he was sentenced to a good behaviour bond in the community for 18 months. This was an incredible result, especially in circumstances where the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions had argued that the only appropriate penalty was one of full-time imprisonment.
Sentencing Submissions made by the defence
Where there is a guilty verdict or a person pleads guilty to a criminal offence, then the matter will proceed to sentence. This is where a judge or magistrate hears submissions from the defence and the prosecution to determine the appropriate sentence. The defences sentencing submissions are aimed to mitigate the severity of the penalties imposed by the courts.
In determining the appropriate sentence, the courts will consider 1. the objective seriousness of the offence, 2. subjective circumstances of the offender, and 3. the purposes of sentencing.
In this case, defence solicitor, Joseph Correy of Australian Criminal Law Group, argued that the court could not sentence the man as having known the money was criminal proceeds or was reckless to the money being criminal proceeds because of the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions accepted the plea of guilty to the charges of Deal with property reasonably suspected of being criminal proceeds, a less serious offence. He also successfully argued that the defendant could not be sentenced as being part of a criminal group.
Mitigating the objective seriousness of the offence
Mitigating the objective seriousness of the offence, Mr Correy argued that several circumstantial factors be considered. This included the small number of transactions that were made and that they were made over a short period of time, the low personal financial gain to his client, that there was only one victim, and a low level of sophistication in planning the crime was involved.
Subjective Circumstances & other mitigating factors considered
In addition to this, the defence raised the personal circumstances of the defendant, arguing for leniency in sentencing. Other mitigating factors included the level of remorse shown by the defendant, the lengthy-time from when the crime was committed to the sentencing date, and the low likelihood of reoffending.
Given the defendant pleaded not guilty to the offence, a 25% discount in penalties imposed was also requested.
Results – No gaol time to be served
The submissions made by criminal lawyer Joseph Correy successfully resulted in the defendant receiving a significantly reduced sentence.
The defendant was given an 18-month intensive corrections order. This meant his sentence would be served in the community, avoiding gaol time.
Intensive Corrections Orders (ICOs)
An intensive corrections order is a prison sentence of two years or less that is served in the community, rather than attending gaol. An ICO can only be given once the court has determined that a prison sentence is appropriate. There are always a set of conditions or obligations attached to an ICO which, if not met, could result in the actual imprisonment of the offender.
An ICO is therefore considered the second most serious of penalties with imprisonment being the only more server punishment.
Read more on Intensive Corrections Orders here
The offence of Deal with property where there are reasonable grounds to suspect the property proceeds from a crime
Deal with property where there are reasonable grounds to suspect the property proceeds from a crime is dealt with in sections 193B and 193C of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW). The act states;
“(1) A person is guilty of an offence if:
(a) the person deals with property, and
(b) there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the property is proceeds of crime, and
(c) at the time of the dealing, the value of the property is $100,000 or more.
Maximum penalty: Imprisonment for 5 years.
(2) A person is guilty of an offence if:
(a) the person deals with property, and
(b) there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the property is proceeds of crime, and
(c) at the time of the dealing, the value of the property is less than $100,000.
Maximum penalty: Imprisonment for 3 years.”
Read all about the offence of Deal with property where there are reasonable grounds to suspect the property proceeds from a crime.
Criminal Lawyer Joseph Correy
Joseph Correy is the co-founder of Australian Criminal Law Group and the leading criminal lawyer for fraud-related crime in Sydney. Mr Correy works out of his Sydney,Parramatta or Blacktown offices but represents clients across all NSW courts for all criminal law matters.
Mr Correy regularly represents clients for fraud-related crimes, beating charges against them and, where they choose to plead guilty, getting the best results possible. This includes reduced sentences, avoiding imprisonment with ICO’s and No-convictions, meaning no criminal record.
If you’re facing criminal charges, get the best defence on your team. Get in touch with Mr Correy and the team at Australian Criminal Law Group today. Contact us via our website form or call 02 8815 88167.
Sources:
- Crimes Act 1900 No 40, Current version for 1 January 2022 to date (accessed 19 February 2022 at 13:47), Part 4AC, Section 193A https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1900-040#sec.61I