Arabic version: محاسِبة تقرّ بالذنب في احتيال بقيمة 2.8 مليون دولار على عائلة في تولي

According to ABC News, Michelle Kathleen Lawson has pleaded guilty in the Cairns District Court to seven fraud charges totalling about $2.8 million. The 53-year-old admitted defrauding seven businesses belonging to members of the Johnston farming family in Tully, Far North Queensland, over six years.

The court heard Lawson was the family’s trusted bookkeeper and concealed payments to her own bank account and accounts belonging to her husband and son. As Johnston family members started businesses, Lawson allegedly recorded payments under the names of false employees. The money funded horses, cars, holidays, property, her own business and extra tuition for her children, the court heard.

Jill Johnston, 81, said in a victim impact statement that learning of the fraud in June 2023 had “felt in many ways like a death”. Lawson had managed the family businesses’ finances for 18 years, and the family had invited her to weddings and congratulated her on buying a clothing boutique with her sisters, unaware their money had helped fund it.

The Johnstons recovered almost $1.5 million through civil action, but legal fees and forensic accounting cost about $500,000, the court heard. Family statements said the fraud affected their ability to hire staff, pay for machinery and chemicals outright, and pursue plans to buy a neighbouring property. Lawson, who has been remanded for more than two years after voluntarily having bail revoked, is due to be sentenced by Judge Joshua Treviño KC on Wednesday.