Cranston jailed for her role in 'corrosive' conspiracy

Lauren Cranston, 30, received an eight-year sentence in the NSW Supreme Court for her role in the Plutus Payroll conspiracy after being found guilty of conspiring to cause a loss to the Commonwealth and dealing with the proceeds of crime alongside four others, including her older brother Adam Cranston.

She will be eligible for parole in March 2028 with a five-year non-parole period.

More than $141 million was funnelled through the scheme, siphoning more than $105 million that should have been paid to the tax office.

It was not a victimless crime, Justice Anthony Payne said, coming just ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The loss of over $100 million which would otherwise have been available to fund government services is a very significant injury suffered by all Australians," he said on Monday.

"There is no doubt that revenue fraud on the scale here has a corrosive effect on our society."

Legitimate clients, attracted by its lack of service fees, sent money to Plutus Payroll for wages, taxes and super.

Instead, the money moved through second-tier companies directed by "unsophisticated and vulnerable people" who did not understand them, Justice Payne said.

The conspiracy was hatched in February and March 2014 meetings at gentlemen's clubs in the Sydney CBD, which Cranston did not know about or participate in.

She remained knowingly involved from at least February 2015 as a "trusted participant in the conspiracies", the judge said.

Cranston acted on instructions but understood the mechanics and knew she had a central role in the money laundering and tax fraud conspiracies, which she also took efforts to conceal.

By the time authorities were eavesdropping, she was showing her knowledge of the scheme's history, relieved by December 2016 that things were "not as bad as last year".

"At least we are actually paying some taxes," Cranston was recorded saying.

She was also present when Dev Menon reassured co-conspirators their scheme was "such a cluster f***, that no one will figure this out".

Even if they did, the conspirators planned to blame everything on early scheme architect Peter Larcombe, who had little involvement in the conspiracy after leaving Australia almost a year before he died in Los Angeles in August 2016.

Cranston gained about $182,000, primarily participating at the bottom of the conspiracy's hierarchy out of misguided loyalty to her older brother, whom she helped conceal in payments for luxury cars and properties, the judge said.

Their father is former deputy tax commissioner Michael Cranston, who also chaired the OECD Taskforce on Tax Crimes for five years, including while his children defrauded the Commonwealth.

The courts have cleared her father of any wrongdoing, but Cranston believes it should do the same for herself and brother, despite a jury deliberating for several weeks before finding them guilty following a nine-month trial.

"The offender appears still to believe that she and her co-conspirators have done nothing wrong," the judge said.

He indicated others will face longer sentences in a bid to deter would-be tax dodgers.

"If the perception became widespread that the payment of millions of dollars in tax was in effect voluntary, and non-payment of tax was effectively risk free, no doubt others would structure their affairs to avoid paying tax," he said.

Cranston appeared in court via audiovisual link, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her green prison jumper as Justice Payne delivered his sentencing remarks before sobbing as the judge concluded.

Australian Associated Press