Jailed Peppermint Grove accountant who stole millions from chicken farmer Gus Jabado fails appeal on sentence

A Peppermint Grove accountant and shire councillor who stole millions from a mega-rich chicken farmer to buy expensive homes in Perth’s golden triangle has failed to convince WA’s highest court that his six-year jail term was “unreasonable and unjust”. Scott Francis Fleay, 53, was jailed last year after a jury found him guilty of swindling more than $4.6 million from his multimillionaire client and friend Gus Jabado and his late wife Maria between 2007 and 2010. Fleay became the immigrant couple’s accountant in 2006 after they sold their Forrestdale poultry farm for $28m and was so trusted that he was given enduring power of attorney over their affairs. But Fleay soon began siphoning sums of the couple’s fortune into accounts he controlled and used it to subsidise his own family’s lifestyle. That included two multimillion-dollar homes in Peppermint Grove and Cottesloe, bought with more than $4.5 million stolen from Mr and Mrs Jabado’s accounts. Fleay also stole $100,000 that went towards a deposit for a third Peppermint Grove home. On Thursday, the WA Court of Appeal dismissed Fleay’s appeal to reduce his sentence, rejecting the argument that the total effective sentence was “unreasonable or plainly unjust”. That is despite acknowledging Fleay had an otherwise unblemished record, served his community as a Peppermint Grove Shire councillor and at his daughters’ school — and had paid back the money he owed Mrs Jabado’s estate plus an extra $2 million. “There can be no doubt that the appellant was well aware of the wrongfulness of his offending,” the appeal judges found. “The thefts were completely contrary to his professional and personal duties to Mr and Mrs Jabado, the high personal standards he projected to those who knew him in his local community, and the reputation that he had as a person of honesty, integrity and service. “It was these qualities which enabled him to commit the offences.” As well as using the stolen funds to help buy property, Fleay used $33,000 to pay his tax liabilities and also directed $60,000 that was supposed to go to charities — including Telethon — into his own accounts. The appeal judges found Fleay’s motive “was to accumulate wealth to pursue a more affluent lifestyle” and it could be said that “greed drove the offending”. “Thus, in the appellant’s case, his prior good character, service to the community and rehabilitation are not to be ignored, but the mitigating weight to be afforded to them must be moderated by the need to deter other would-be white-collar offenders,” the appeal judges found. During his trial, Fleay’s defence lawyer Simon Freitag SC had argued “you cannot steal what is given to you” — and that the money was willingly given in loans, gifts, payment for services and reimbursements. Mr Freitag said Mr Jabado wanted revenge because he felt Fleay had “betrayed” him by helping his late wife to access her money behind his back so she could give it to her relatives, whom he “absolutely loathed”. However, District Court Judge Mara Barone found Fleay stole from the Jabados to fund a lifestyle he could not afford. “The money was largely spent on the purchasing of expensive homes that without the benefit of the stolen monies you would not, it would seem, have been able to afford,” Judge Barone said. “You in effect funded a lifestyle for yourself and your family that you could not afford as an accountant married to a teacher.” Fleay will become eligible for parole in December 2024 after serving four years.