Geelong says former coterie member Sy Giang Nguyen, who is under investigation for allegedly defrauding local not-for-profit genU, had no role within the football department during Chris Scott’s time as Cats’ coach.
The dual premiership coach was responding to a News Corp report that Scott and football manager Andrew Mackie were staying at the same hotel as Nguyen when they travelled to Sydney early in the 2023 season.
The trip occurred months before police revealed they were investigating the former genU employee for alleged fraud, and also occurred within the time frame of the AFL’s extended audit into Geelong’s administration of player payments and third-party deals, which spanned from 2019-2024.
The AFL found no breach of player payment or player movement rules had occurred; however the Cats were fined $77,500 (with $40,000 suspended) for administrative errors.
The audit identified a series of non-disclosures and/or late disclosures of arrangements with club associates and third parties that should have been reported to the AFL.
“I do understand the interest in the AFL enforcing the broader soft cap, especially the salary cap,” Scott said on Wednesday.
“Our club’s been through an extensive audit over the previous 12 months or so, and we feel like we’re through that now. We completely support that the AFL have a role to play within this, and we feel really comfortable with them taking on that role, and two, us participating in any queries they might have, but a sort of public commentary around it, I suspect, probably, leads to innuendo, half-truths, and extrapolations.”
Scott said that he knew Nguyen but he “was in no way, shape or form involved in the trip that Andrew and I took”, nor did he socialise with them on the trip.
“It wouldn’t surprise you or anyone else to know that I’m not intimately involved in the booking of work travel,” Scott said.
Geelong confirmed the club paid for Scott and Mackie’s travel to Sydney, and the accommodation.
The Cats coach said the Geelong football department remained separate from the commercial department, which deals with corporate sponsors and coterie members.
“I think if the expectation is that the clubs can vet people on things that may happen into the future, that’s a very high bar to set, and we may well find ourselves with no corporate support as well,” Scott said.
No charges have been laid against Nguyen, however investigations are ongoing and the club has not had ties with him since becoming aware of the fraud allegations.
Nguyen, as well as late Geelong businessman Keith Greenwood, agreed to pay $5.4 million to the charity in a civil case as genU attempted to retrieve part of the missing $14.5 million. This masthead reported in December that, after making an initial payment of $1.4 million, the pair had not made further payments.
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