Griffith illegal liquor sales sees Sydney father and son fined for bootleg scheme

The "sophisticated business plan", as described by the NSW Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority (ILGA), involved an agent selling liquor sourced from Queensland out of an unlicensed warehouse in Griffith, and channeling the income through Sydney-based, and separate Victorian-based, liquor stores.

Information from the investigations outlined Gregg Herron as the corporate licensee and licensed business owner of Smithfield Cellars in Sydney's western suburbs, while his son Clarke Herron managed the business.

A disciplinary complaint was submitted to the ILGA on October 10, 2018.

The complaint alleged that Kenneth Lewis, a close associate of Gregg Herron, leased a warehouse on Banna Avenue in Griffith.

It was further alleged that sales consultant Roy Agresta facilitated the sale of alcohol from the warehouse to surrounding venues despite terms of the lease outlining the "storage of alcohol/liquor and associated products only" were to be carried out.

Alcohol was attempted to be sold to The Area Hotel, and successfully sold to Yenda Hotel, Hanwood Sports Club and Yoogali Club.

Mr Lewis was also the director of a Queensland-based company, of which Gregg Herron was the director of the corporate licensee.

The scheme was alleged to have used the name of Smithfield Cellars in an attempt to legitimise invoices for the sale and packaging of liquor in Griffith, while addressed to one of Mr Lewis' Queensland businesses.

Proceeds of the packaged liquor sales were filtered through Smithfield Cellars' bank account and into a different company controlled by Mr Lewis in Queensland.

Records showed more than $400,000 was transferred to the Queensland business' account between February and December 2016, representing 85 per cent of Smithfield Cellars' total revenue for the period.

It was further identified that 50 per cent of those liquor sale transactions were made to licensees in Griffith, totalling $101,094.10.

A number of federal agencies continue to investigate Mr Lewis, who police advised had left the country, while the whereabouts of the liquor is unknown.

Gregg Herron submitted a defence suggesting he acted in the "honest and reasonable belief" that the matters set out within the complaint were "within the law", blaming the legitimacy of legal advice Clarke Herron received.

While conceding such a defence did not excuse the breach of the law, he submitted that it was a "powerful mitigating factor" for this case.

However, in an official declaration, Clarke Herron denied ever having entered into any agreement with his father and Mr Lewis, and that he only met Mr Lewis once.

He said his first knowledge of any arrangement with Mr Lewis followed a discussion with his father "some time in 2016" in which Gregg Herron said "something to the effect" that there were going to be some "wholesales of booze in Griffith using our licence".

Mr Herron said he asked his father "whether this was OK", to which Gregg's response was said to be of the effect that "he had had a meeting with a lawyer" and the arrangement had been "approved" by the lawyer.

Considering the declarations, Gregg Herron was fined $10,000 and ordered to pay $20,000 in legal costs, while Clarke Herron was fined $5000 and ordered to pay $10,000 in costs.

Both men received a reprimand, conditional on the fines being paid within 60 days, and the ILGA placed a condition on the licence of Smithfield Cellars prohibiting Mr Lewis from having any association with the business.

ILGA chair Philip Crawford said that under the Liquor Act 2007 (NSW) it was illegal for a licensed liquor retailer to sell alcohol outside the scope of its licence or through another unlicensed premises.

"This ultimately puts customers at risk because there are no guarantees that what is being sold is genuine or safe," he said.