AFP recommends tax fraud charges against former confidante of deputy PM

The Australian Federal Police has recommended charges be laid against Richard Marles’ former favourite entrepreneur, Scale Facilitation founder David Collard, along with fellow director Jimmy Fatone and tax accountant Chris Scott, over an alleged $126 million tax fraud.

Open Politics can reveal an AFP investigation called Operation Queenscliff has provided a brief of evidence to the Commonwealth director of public prosecutions (DPP) for the consideration of charges over allegedly fraudulent claims by dozens of Scale companies for R&D tax incentives and GST refunds from business activity statements.

Chris Scott from Scotts Chartered Accountants in Geelong was engaged by his old school friends Collard and Fatone to file the tax claims, with the Australian Tax Office paying out $76 million in 2022 before blocking payment of a further claim of $50 million in January 2023 due to suspicions of fraud.

Five months later, in June 2023, AFP and ATO officers from the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce raided Scale Facilitation’s Geelong offices, Fatone’s and Scott’s residences, and the offices of Scotts Chartered Accountants to execute search warrants over “alleged taxation fraud”.

Immediately after the raids, Scale Facilitation and David Collard denied any wrongdoing.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles described David Collard as “innately entrepreneurial [and] values driven” at Scale Facilitation’s New York HQ opening party in 2022. Marles hasn’t repeated the compliments since the AFP raid and the collapse of Scale Facilitation.

If the DPP decides to lay charges against the trio, each will be issued with a summons and notified of when they need to front up to court.

Getting the alleged mastermind David Collard to court won’t happen in a rush as he lives in New York, so the AFP would need to draft an extradition request and get it approved by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus. If the A-G were to give it the tick, Collard could then seek a review of the decision, potentially dragging out the extradition by months.

In the meantime, Open Politics understands several three-letter government agencies are keeping tabs on Collard for the AFP so that, if the US government agrees to extradite him, he can be quickly apprehended.

Open Politics sought comment from Collard, Fatone and Scott, but they did not respond. It is expected that Scott, Scott Chartered Accountants and Fatone will also strongly deny any wrongdoing.

The AFP and DPP declined to comment, saying in a statement that they “will provide an update at an appropriate time”.