Restaurant boss banned over fraud
A former Attadale restaurateur who defrauded customers of almost $20,000 by adding unauthorised tips to bills has been banned for 10 years from holding a financial interest in a venue that serves alcohol.
Guiseppe Anastasio cannot be in charge of a venue that serves alcohol.
In a recent Liquor Commission ruling, Giuseppe Anastasio, 40, also known as Joe, was disqualified from being in a position of authority in a body corporate that holds a liquor licence or be interested in the profits of such a business.
The commission found Anastasio, who opened Paradiso Restaurant in 1999, was not a fit and proper person because of his deceptive and deceitful conduct. He was charged in March last year with processing significant tips, over eight months in 2013, without the customers’ knowledge shortly after they paid their bills by credit card.
The owner and former head chef pleaded guilty to 17 counts of fraud two days before his trial in February.
He was sentenced in Perth Magistrate’s Court on February 9 to eight months jail suspended for 18 months.
The total amount Anastasio defrauded customers was $19,189.
The commission said it had no hesitation in finding Anastasio was of poor character and there was no suggestion his conduct would have stopped had the police not become involved “as evidenced by the fact that he defrauded his own customers of significant amounts of money on multiple occasions”.
“While the conduct was unsophisticated and always likely to be detected at some point in time, it involved deception and a high level of dishonesty on the part of the respondent,” the commission said.
The 10-year disqualification was for the benefit of the community and the “denunciation of the respondent’s conduct”.
The commission acknowledged that Anastasio operated a successful, well-regarded business over a long period before the fraud but the ban served the need for a general deterrent as well as making sure Anastasio never engaged in such conduct again.
Source: The West Australian, Tayissa Barone, July 4th 2015
