https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/n...e/news-story/92ed34d1a53d103c3e0f33031301a7e8
Former Parramatta Eels manager Jason Robert Irvine used player payments to go on spending spree, court hears
Ian Paterson, The Daily Telegraph
June 20, 2018 12:00am
A FORMER Parramatta Eels manager who boasted he was mates with
NRL star Jarryd Hayne funnelled third party player payments into his own bank account to pay his bills, a court has heard.
Jason Robert Irvine, 43, of Leichhardt, fronted a committal hearing at Downing Centre Local Court yesterday over allegations he submitted false invoices and created a false sponsorship deal worth almost $90,000 to help the Eels dodge
the NRL salary cap in 2014-15.
But the football and logistics team manager allegedly only paid a fraction of the money to players, instead spending thousands on personal expenses such as iTunes vouchers, vet bills, groceries and power bills.
Crown prosecutor Daniel Waldmann told the court Irvine was asked by former Eels CEO Scott Seward to arrange for the landscape management company Green Options to make payments to players Jarryd Hayne and Lee Mossop.
Irvine instructed Green Options
owner Tony Herman to create false invoices billing the Parramatta Rugby League Club for the removal of concrete, debris, rock and rubbish which was never performed, the court heard.
He allegedly also created a false sponsorship deal with the landscaping company.
Irvine then wrote to Mr Herman, using a Parramatta NRL club letterhead, directing him to deposit money into his personal bank account, the court heard. According to court documents $89,490 was paid out in three separate invoices between December 2014 and June 2015.
“Every time the defendant received money, which the Crown says he knew was derived from Parramatta National Rugby League Club, he spent it on himself,” Mr Waldmann said.
“He and he alone implemented the second phase of the deception which was the sponsorship money and he then spent a significant amount on himself and paid the rest to players, claiming he had a close relationship with Jarryd Hayne.”
It is not suggested Hayne knew about any alleged wrongdoing.
Irvine has pleaded not guilty to two counts of dishonestly obtain financial advantage and one count of dishonestly obtain property by deception.
The Parramatta Eels salary cap scandal cost the club 12 premiership points and a $1 million fine. During a recorded interview with the NRL Integrity Unit Irvine complained he was underpaid and that Green Options was part of the club’s plan to “fill the hole in the third party agreement”, the Crown said.
Irvine’s barrister Benjamin Barrack told the court his client did not deceive the Eels and believed he was helping them legally sidestep the salary cap.
The hearing has been adjourned until next Tuesday
