Former Raiders star sentenced for fraud - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Former Raiders star sentenced for fraud

07/12/2007 06:18:46 PM Comments (0)

Former Canberra Raiders and New Zealand rugby league star Brent Todd has been sentenced to one year's home detention for his part in a multi-million dollar gaming machine fraud.

Todd will also perform 190 hours of community work after being sentenced in Auckland District Court over a false invoicing racket.

The Queensland-based former player and TV celebrity last month pleaded guilty to four fraud charges over an estimated $NZ2 million ($A1.8 million) fraud involving kickbacks from gaming machine money.

Todd admitted his part in a scheme which involved taking 50 per cent kickbacks from gaming machine money intended for North Harbour Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Touch New Zealand, and writing false invoices to account for the transactions.

Five others allegedly connected with the scheme - former All Black Doug Rollerson, former Kiwis captain Hugh McGahan, Touch NZ former chief executive Dick Arnott, former Touch NZ employee Geoffrey Alan Thompson and a woman whose name has been suppressed - have been committed for trial on fraud charges.

Todd appeared in 28 tests for the Kiwis between 1985 and 1993, and played in the 1989 Australian grand final-winning Canberra Raiders side.

Judge Thomas Everitt said Todd's offending was "very serious" and he could have faced five years in jail.

However Todd's guilty plea, his repayment of $NZ300,000 ($A266,000) to North Harbour RFU and his decision to testify in the trial of the five remaining accused reduced his potential sentence to two years.

And as Todd was not regarded as a threat to society, he was eligible for home detention, to be served in New Zealand.

"Home detention is viewed by those serving it as a hard sentence and some have said they preferred imprisonment. It is not an easy sentence," Judge Everitt said.

"You will appreciate that you will be away from your family and children in Australia. That will not be easy."

Todd, who has appeared in celebrity TV shows, was declared bankrupt in February last year and in September last year admitted procuring cocaine and was fined $NZ500 ($A440).

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