WA money laundering mastermind jailed after cleaning nearly $2 million in dirty cash

A Perth businessman fighting a terminal cancer diagnosis has been jailed for a minimum of three years after being found guilty of laundering dirty cash for WA’s criminal underworld.

Geoff Puttick, 66, pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of engaging in transactions that involved money or property that was the proceeds of an offence, and took the matter to trial alongside a number of his clients.

During Puttick’s six-week trial earlier this year, the court was told the businessman was the go-to money launderer for a bunch of bikies, churning almost $2 million of dirty cash over a five-year period from his Burswood-based company.

His clients included John Fury, Warren Goedhart, Todd Lange and Shaun Collard, as well as Giovanni Bova and Riley Hutchinson.

All six have served – or will serve – time in prison thanks to Puttick after police traced cash deposits back to them through what was dubbed a “sophisticated” money-laundering scheme.

The court was told Puttick used his company Pre-Paid Legal, or PPL, as a ruse for the enterprise.

During the trial, the court was told police struggled to ascertain exactly what the business did, but prosecutors alleged Puttick got clients to pay a monthly membership for ad-hoc legal advice that he would source, which they used to set up wills, deal with deceased estates, and create company trusts.

Puttick also had multiple off-shoots of that business with names including PPL Security, PPL Investments, and PPL Healthcare Benefits.

His business had originally been legitimate, and while he was laundering dirty money, he also continued with some lawful transactions.