A former Geelong Football Club sponsor who is accused in court documents of defrauding up to $14.5 million from registered charity genU paid more than $3300 towards the luxury accommodation of Cats stars Joel Selwood and Mitch Duncan at a German hotel in 2018.
The payment, made by former information technology manager Sy Giang Nguyen, raises concerns about the scope of a recent investigation by the AFL into Geelong’s compliance with total player payments and soft cap rules between 2019 and 2024.
The club was fined $77,500 in October – with $40,000 of that suspended – after an AFL audit found Geelong had not declared that club sponsors or associates had allowed players to stay at a Queensland property, or had gifted them bottles of wine
But the AFL is expected to face renewed pressure to examine the payment by Nguyen towards two hotel suites in Munich, which were arranged by another Geelong benefactor, Stuart Coffield.
Coffield, who is managing director of Geelong Travel, booked two rooms at the Mandarin Oriental in October 2018 for Britt Davis and Demi Miles, who are the long-term partners of Selwood and Duncan respectively, according to documents obtained by this masthead.
However, there appears to have been confusion about who would occupy the rooms.
“We would like to double-check that we have noted these down correctly may we please ask: Ms Brittany Davis will share the room with you (Mr Coffield) and Ms Demi Miles will share the room with Sy Giang Nguyen?,” an email from staff at the Mandarin Oriental sent to Coffield, Davis and Nguyen on October 3 said.
“Please excuse the additional question, but kindly inform us if Ms Davis, or Ms Miles is your sister,” the email stated.
On the same day, Nguyen used an American Express platinum card to pay 2050 euros (A$3340 at the time) to the Munich-based hotel, according to a receipt obtained by this masthead.
It remains unclear which room Nguyen paid for. This masthead does not suggest any wrongdoing by Selwood, Duncan or their partners, or that they were aware of the serious fraud allegations made by genU against Nguyen and late Geelong businessman Keith Greenwood.
More than a dozen images loaded to social media on October 7 that year show Selwood, Duncan, their partners and several other Cats players wearing traditional Bavarian outfits and drinking steins at Oktoberfest.
Selwood and Duncan did not respond to questions from this masthead. Tom Petroro, who managed both players, declined to comment.
Selwood has had a close relationship with Geelong Travel and Coffield for more than a decade, and has appeared in several promotional campaigns for the Belmont-based company dressed as an airline pilot or cruise ship captain.
Coffield and Nguyen also forged friendships with some of the club’s biggest stars, including Gary Ablett Jr, Steve Johnson and Andrew Mackie.
When the Cats celebrated their 2009 grand final victory in Las Vegas, the pair joined the team and appeared in several photos in private hotel suites, or the city’s famed nightclubs. Other images show Nguyen and Coffield socialising with players at Crown casino.
Nguyen and his lawyer, Roger Vrachnas, of Gigliotti Lawyers, declined to comment and did not respond to detailed questions. Coffield did not respond to questions.
AFL spokesman Jay Allan also did not respond to questions.
But the close relationship between Geelong’s benefactors and its players has rankled executives from rival clubs.
“There’s just so much smoke around Geelong, and every time the AFL puts out a fire, there’s more smoke coming from somewhere else,” said a senior figure from a Melbourne-based club who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“It will be interesting to see what they [the AFL] do now. Surely, they can’t ignore it … you have to wonder why the recent audit only went back to 2019,” the club manager said.
Under AFL guidelines, clubs are required to detail any benefit to players or officials that they receive via a club associate or sponsor.
While the AFL investigation found Geelong had not breached the salary cap or the AFL’s soft cap between 2019 and 2024, the club was ordered to complete additional compliance requirements, including maintaining active registers of arrangements with club associates and third parties.
Nguyen, who is no longer a Geelong sponsor, remains the subject of a three-year police investigation, while Greenwood died in September last year.
Detectives from the financial crime squad arrested and interviewed Nguyen on August 1 after executing a warrant at his Newtown home. No charges have been laid against him.
According to court documents filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria, Nguyen allegedly colluded with the late Greenwood to siphon millions of dollars from the registered charity by buying or leasing thousands of IT products on behalf of genU that were never delivered.
Greenwood’s former business, Ryrie Office Machines, was also accused of oversupplying and overcharging for IT hardware and software ordered by Nguyen, who had worked for genU since it was founded in 2016.
“It appears that Mr Nguyen has orchestrated a fraudulent scheme in respect of the supply of IT hardware and software to genU for the benefit of himself and another, being Ryrie Office Machines,” former genU chief executive Clare Amies said in an affidavit.
Nguyen and Greenwood, who had been significant benefactors of the Cats for more than a decade, had agreed in June last year to repay $5.8 million to resolve the civil case with genU, which is one of the nation’s largest service providers for the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
However, after making an initial payment of $1.4 million, the pair failed to pay the second tranche of $3 million on September 26, just four days before Greenwood’s death.
Lawyers acting for genU have applied to the Supreme Court to enforce the settlement and will request the appointment of a receiver to pursue assets from Greenwood’s estate to cover the remaining debt of $3 million.
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