media release (17-029MR)

Former liquidator convicted of dishonestly using his position

Published

Mark Darren Levi, a former employee of an insolvency firm, has been convicted of dishonestly using his position as an employee of that company with the intention of gaining an advantage for himself.

Mr Levi was sentenced in the District Court of New South Wales to a term of imprisonment for 18 months, but the court ordered that he be released immediately upon him undertaking to be of good behaviour for 18 months.

Between April and October 2009, Mr Levi used his position as an employee of an insolvency firm to dishonestly obtain two cheques totalling approximately $92,000 from a receivership account, which he used to pay his personal tax liabilities. The receivership account was maintained by the insolvency firm as part of the receivership of Biseja Pty Ltd (now deregistered) (Biseja).

Mr Levi has also admitted an additional offence in that between 6 July and 31 August 2010 he falsified the books and records of Biseja to hide his misconduct. This offence was taken into account by the Court when sentencing Mr Levi for the dishonesty offence.

Mr Levi was a registered liquidator until August 2013 when his registration was cancelled following ASIC's successful application to the Companies Auditors and Liquidators Disciplinary Board.

Following his conviction, Mr Levi is automatically disqualified from managing a corporation for a period of 5 years.

This matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

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