Australian concert promoter Andrew McManus has walked free after spending nearly two years embroiled in a legal saga involving a suitcase, filled with more than $700,000 in cash, that was found in a Sydney hotel back in 2011.
As Fairfax reports, McManus left Sydney District Court on Friday as a free man after Judge Mark Williams handed down a 20-month sentence under an intensive corrections order on account of McManus' evident remorse and minimal chance of recidivism, meaning that he will serve his time outside of jail.
The promoter was arrested in September 2015 — along with Sydney men Craig Haeusler, Michael Croke and Zeki Atilgan, plus US citizen and convicted 'ringleader' Owen Hanson jr — in relation to a multinational investigation between the FBI, the NSW Organised Crime Squad and the Australian Crime Commission over the suitcase, which was found with Sydney-based ex-cage fighter Sean Carolan six years ago and launched the investigation into its origins.
McManus, who at one point claimed ownership over the cash, was initially charged with multiple offences, including participating in a criminal group and attempting to gain financial advantage by deception, but all except one — perverting the course of justice, to which McManus pled guilty — were dropped in due course.
The 55-year-old promoter, who has brought acts as big as KISS out to our shores, admitted to lying to police about the money in the suitcase, now-famously telling them in a 2012 interview: "It's not the proceeds of crime, it's the proceeds of Andrew McManus."
The court heard on Friday that he had agreed to claim the suitcase as part of an agreement with Haeusler to receive a $200,000 loan from its contents in order to bankroll a Lenny Kravitz tour.
He went on to explain in a statement late last year that his behaviour at the time was the result of a struggle with "psychiatric trauma", and that he was "deeply remorseful for his conduct and will take his justice in the District Court on March 31, 2017".
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