Hasan Genc, 38, formerly of the Melbourne suburb of Caroline Springs, pleaded guilty in the Melbourne County Court to extortion, aggravated burglary and theft.
The court heard Genc arranged for accountant Steve Di Petta to meet him at Mr Di Petta’s Shepparton office after hours on November 15, 2019, so Genc could pick up a parcel that had been delivered there and give instructions for his tax return.
Genc, who had grown up in Shepparton, had been a client of the accountancy firm for about five years, and the meeting was initially going to be at 5.30pm but was pushed back to 9pm.
The prosecution alleged Sam Ercan and another unknown man went to Mr Di Petta’s Ashenden St office where they demanded $500,000 they said Mr Di Petta owed someone from 18 months earlier. Mr Di Petta has denied owing anyone money.
A gun was held to Mr Di Petta’s head as Mr Di Petta was told he had seven days to pay – which was later extended to 30 days – and he and his children were threatened.
Genc entered the office while the incident was occurring and he and the other men pretended not to know each other.
However, the prosecution alleged that Genc arranged for the parcel to be delivered and the other men to attend the office because he was seeking to “patch over” from the Finks Outlaw Motorcycle Gang – which he had told Mr Di Petta he was a former national president of – to the Hells Angels these men were members of.
Ercan and the other man left the business on foot with the business’s CCTV hard drive, and the prosecution said Genc later picked them up.
After the men had left the business, Genc told Mr Di Petta the men were Hells Angels bikies and he would be best to pay them.
He also told him not to call police.
In sentencing Genc, Judge Elizabeth Gaynor said Genc continued to contact Mr Di Petta for three months after the incident, urging him to pay the money, semi-threatening him, and even offering to broker the payment.
In the meantime, he continued to see and speak to Ercan.
“I am safe to assume the complainant and his wife … were terrified by the threats against their children,” Judge Gaynor said.
The judge noted Genc lived with his parents and daughter, was a carer for his parents, and was the sole financial provider in the house.
She also noted he had been an Australian champion wrestler for four years between 2000 and 2003 and had been invited to the Commonwealth Games before a motorbike accident ended his involvement in the sport.
She also spoke of how he joined the military in Cyprus – where his father was originally from – at 19 and rose through the ranks to finish as a commander before returning to Australia.
Judge Gaynor said Genc was introduced to outlaw motorcycle gangs by a neighbour and has been associated with the Finks and the Hells Angels gangs for a number of years.
She accepted Genc’s defence counsel who told her he was no longer a member of outlaw motorcycle gangs.
She also said Genc owned several businesses, including one that he had inherited a $1.5 million tax debt on when he purchased it after receiving financial advice from Mr Di Petta.
Judge Gaynor said Genc had spent 12 months in prison on remand awaiting the matter to come before the courts, and noted that much of that time had been spent locked in his cell and only allowed out for one hour a day for his safety because of his known motorcycle gang affiliation.
She said this time in custody would have been harder than for most prisoners, and she took that into account in her sentence.
Since leaving prison, Judge Gaynor said Genc had lived a “pro-social life”.
Genc was sentenced to 12 months in prison – with the time already served in pre-sentence detention.
He was also put on a four-year community corrections order with 300 hours of community work to be done.
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