Over the course of 11 years, Damien Luscombe carefully swindled more than $2 million from some of Australia’s most well-known musicians and restaurateurs.
The partner and business manager at accounting firm White Sky oversaw the day-to-day accounts of 11 high-profile clients, including performers Gotye and Peking Duk.
They trusted him with their finances but he betrayed them, instead transferring money that should have gone into their accounts into his own.
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In sentencing Luscombe to a six-year jail term, County Court Judge George Georgiou said the 38-year-old knew what he was doing was wrong.
“You engaged in an elaborate and carefully planned fraud,” the judge said on Wednesday.
“The fact you were able to engage in this deception … speaks of its relative sophistication.”
Between September 2011 and September 2022, Luscombe made at least 337 false documents to facilitate 239 fraudulent transactions.
He would either doctor legitimate invoices or create fake ones with the billing bank details changed to his personal Commonwealth Bank account.
Luscombe also created false emails purporting to be from clients or their managers requesting payments, again using his personal bank account information.
His senior role meant only his signature was required to authorise the documents.
Luscombe took $2,166,036.29 over the 11-year period.
His victims included performers Gotye, Angus and Julia Stone, and Peking Duk as well as the owners of Melbourne restaurants Mr Miyagi and The Meatball and Wine Bar.
The court was told some of the affected restaurateurs had to sell their businesses and homes to make ends meet while Luscombe pocketed millions.
Peking Duk’s Adam Hyde and Reuben Styles spoke about the feeling of being “robbed blind” while already struggling because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wally De Backer, who goes by the stage name Gotye, said Luscombe had caused him a great deal of personal stress.
“All that said, I forgive Damien and I hope he can find more interesting and productive things to do in the future,” De Backer’s statement read.
Georgiou commended De Backer’s statement but noted it was clear Luscombe had betrayed the trust of his victims and caused them significant stress.
“You were defrauding them of their money while purporting to be their friend,” Georgiou said.
Georgiou accepted Luscombe committed his crimes to fund his online gambling addiction but said it was not an excuse.
“You had ample opportunity to reflect on the wrongfulness of what you were doing and seek professional help,” Georgiou said.
“You did not do so.”
He noted Luscombe had a prior court appearance for similar dishonesty offences, to which he was handed a good behaviour bond without conviction.
That 2010 court appearance was 15 days before he started working at White Sky as a junior accounts officer.
Georgiou accepted Luscombe had abstained from gambling since his offending was uncovered, and that he was undergoing treatment for his addiction.
The 38-year-old had also shown genuine remorse and had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, Georgiou said.
Luscombe has been jailed for six years, but he will be eligible for parole after three years and nine months.