Wheatley to serve his time at home

Glenn Wheatley, the first high profile casualty of the Operation Wickenby tax crackdown, has been given permission to serve out the remainder of his 15 month jail sentence from home.

The former music promoter and entrepreneur, who managed performers such as John Farnham and Delta Goodrem, was sentenced to jail in July last year after being found guilty of tax fraud.

But after having served nine months in Victoria’s low security Beechworth Jail, the Adult Parole Board of Victoria has now ruled that Wheatley is a low-risk, non-violent offender who should be allowed to do the rest of his time at home.

While life at home won’t be a picnic for Wheatley – he will have to wear an electronic tracking bracelet and have random drug and alcohol tests – he will at least have plenty of room to move in his substantial mansion in the exclusive inner city Melbourne suburb of South Yarra.

Wheatley’s fall from grace was caused by his use of dodgy tax minimisation schemes run by Swiss accounting firm Strachans to avoid paying tax on the proceeds of a John Farnham concert tour and Kostya Tszyu boxing match he organised and promoted.

Following a Project Wickenby investigation, Wheatley pleaded guilty to defrauding the Commonwealth of close to $320,000 in tax and was sentenced to two and half years jail, but was only required to serve 15 months of the sentence.