Perth businessman guilty in $3 million bikie money laundering scheme

11 hours ago 4

A jury has found a Perth businessman guilty of a raft of money laundering charges, bringing to an end a massive police investigation which also culminated in the imprisonment of six West Australian bikies who were the man’s clients.

Geoff Puttick, 65, pleaded not guilty to 29 charges of engaging in transactions that involved money or property that was the proceeds of an offence in Perth District Court.

Shaun Collard, Geoff Puttick and John Fury were all involved in a sophisticated money laundering scheme.

Last month he was found guilty of all but one count after a six-week trial.

The court was told Puttick was the go-to money launderer for a bunch of bikies, churning more than $3 million of dirty cash over a five-year period from his fake Burswood-based company.

His clients included Coffin Cheaters John Fury, Warren Goedhart, Todd Lange and Shaun Collard, as well as Giovanni Bova and Riley Hutchinson.

All six are have – or will – serve time thanks to Puttick after police traced large deposits back to them through what was dubbed a “sophisticated” money-laundering scheme.

The court was told Puttick used his company Pre-Paid Legal, or PPL, as a ruse for the enterprise.

During the trial, the court was told police struggled to ascertain exactly what the business did, but said Puttick got clients to pay a monthly membership for ad hoc legal advice that he would source, which they used to set up wills, deal with deceased estates, and create companies’ trusts.

Puttick also had multiple off-shoots of that business with names including PPL Security, PPL Investments, and PPL Healthcare Benefits.

Instead, Puttick was actually taking large quantities of dirty money, which he deposited into multiple accounts at a Victoria Park Commonwealth Bank branch, before giving it back to the same people electronically in the form of a “loan”.

Puttick was first arrested in December 2020 after he was pulled over by police in Thornlie. He was then taken to a storage unit in Canning Vale where a search warrant revealed a safe containing almost $750,000 in bundles of $50 and $100 notes.

A search of Puttick’s phone also allegedly found encryption software with messaging capabilities that could not be intercepted.

Puttick was at the time a recipient of JobSeeker and Newstart allowances from Centrelink, the court was told, and therefore did not have the legitimate financial capacity to have been in receipt of large sums of cash.

Now it can be revealed that that cash was dirty money, given to him by outlaw motorcycle gang members for him to cycle through accounts and feed back to them to make it look like they were legitimate funds. Puttick was paid a cut of the proceeds.

Last month, two of Puttick’s clients on trial alongside him were found guilty of engaging in transactions that involved money or property that was the proceeds of an offence.

Stefano and Anita Bova walking into court in May.

Husband and wife Anita and Stefano Bova were also on trial alongside Puttick. Stefano was found not guilty of any wrongdoing, while Anita had to withdraw from the trial partway through due to medical reasons. She will face court again at a later date.

Fury was the first to be sentenced in 2023 after pleading guilty to receiving money that was the proceeds of an offence. Bank records showed more than $137,000 being filtered back to him by Puttick in the form of a loan, but no repayments were ever made.

The original source of the cash was never identified, but the 35-year-old member of the Coffin Cheaters was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his involvement.

Lange, also a member of the Coffin Cheaters, was sentenced to 14 months behind bars in March this year after the 49-year-old father-of-three was convicted on four counts of engaging in a transaction involving money that was the proceeds of an offence.

In late 2019 and early 2020, Lange gave Puttick nearly $84,000 of dirty cash for him to launder, receiving it back in four separate instalments into bank accounts linked to companies he was linked to.

He was arrested in May 2022 and pleaded guilty to the charges. He’ll be eligible for parole in October.

Fellow bikie Warren Goedhart, 46, was sentenced last month after he pleaded guilty to nine counts of engaging in a transaction involving the proceeds of an offence.

Goedhart, a married father of one, laundered more than $191,000 through Puttick, which he used to service his South Lake mortgage held in his wife’s name.

The court heard the dirty cash originally came from his deceased grandmother’s estate that she had accumulated through illegal activity.

Goedhart was sentenced to a total of 21 months’ imprisonment with eligibility for parole after serving half the sentence.

Giovanni Bova, 59, was sentenced alongside Goedhart.

He was convicted of engaging in a transaction involving the proceeds of an offence and possession of money reasonably suspected of being stolen.

Bova got Puttick to launder $200,000 he then used to buy a house, but instead will spend the next 3½ years behind bars.

Former promising footballer Riley Hutchinson and Coffin Cheater Shaun Collard both chose to spend their freshly laundered money on cars.

The pair were sentenced together last Friday after they were found guilty by a jury of a similar raft of crimes.

Hutchinson, 31, spent nearly $300,000 of money laundered by Puttick on three vehicles, including a $100,000 Mercedes Benz.

He was sentenced to two years and nine months behind bars for his involvement in the scheme.

Collard gave Puttick almost $150,000 in cash for him to launder. He spent the money that was filtered back to him via two separate companies he was linked to on a Toyota Prado and a Toyota LandCruiser.

Collard also pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis plants to sell and was convicted of possession of money unlawfully obtained after over $60,000 in separate bundles of cash with his DNA on it was found inside the cannabis grow house.

The father-of-four, who is 39, will spend the next 4½ years in prison.

Puttick will be sentenced later this month.

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