The future of an acclaimed Canberra restaurant is unclear after a judge sent its owner back behind bars in a stern rebuke of the chef's "brazen and apparently enthusiastic" lies.
Courgette operator James Daniel Mussillon, 51, was sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday to three years and 11 months in jail.
Justice David Mossop ordered him to serve 12 months of the term behind bars before the rest is suspended.
Mussillon, who showed no visible signs of emotion, had previously pleaded guilty to money laundering, perjury, general dishonesty and making false evidence.
The restaurateur also admitted obtaining property by deception, a federal crime for which he received a separate, effectively suspended, eight-month prison term.
In sentencing, Justice Mossop outlined how Mussillon spent more than five years laundering the proceeds of a cannabis trafficking enterprise through his Civic eatery.
The judge said Mussillon had done so for the benefit of a drug dealer, with whom the offender had become "entangled" for reasons that were not entirely clear.
Over the life of the illicit scheme, between 2016 and 2021, Mussillon took $361,941 from the cannabis trafficker, who cannot legally be named, and paid it back to him as "wages".
Because the drug dealer was on Courgette's books for the purpose of making this arrangement appear legitimate, the federal government paid Mussillon $31,900 in JobKeeper subsidies he should never have received during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mussillon's relationship with the drug dealer was a constant feature of his offending, which also involved what Justice Mossop described as an "unsophisticated" instance of moving up to $175,000 in cash on the man's behalf in an attempt to prevent police finding it.
When police did seize a different six-figure sum from the home of fellow restaurateur Wing Hei Leung in March 2021, Mussillon pretended he had loaned that man most of the cash.
The 51-year-old drew up a false loan agreement in an attempt to convince police to give back the cash, which in fact belonged to the cannabis trafficker.
While Justice Mossop described all these transgressions as serious, he reserved particular condemnation for the perjury offence.
Mussillon committed that crime in June 2020, when the drug dealer faced the ACT Magistrates Court to apply for bail after being remanded in custody on unrelated charges.
The acclaimed chef gave what Justice Mossop described as "gushing" evidence to help the man secure bail, telling special magistrate Margaret Hunter a number of lies.
These "brazen and apparently enthusiastic falsehoods", as the judge described them, included claims he had worked "side by side" with the drug dealer for more than six years.
"I know his character at work," Mussillon said of his fictitious "operations manager".
"He demonstrates he is loyal and respectful. He has always been a good employee."
Mussillon also offered to provide a $50,000 surety to have the drug dealer released from custody, telling Ms Hunter "I believe in him" and "I respect him".
Justice Mossop said a transcript of Ms Hunter's eventual decision to grant bail showed Mussillon's false evidence had been a crucial factor in a "finely balanced" application.
Similar to Mussillon's overall "entanglement" with the drug dealer, Justice Mossop was somewhat baffled about the restaurateur's motivations for "perjuring himself so dramatically".
But the judge referred to there being some level of explanation in the opinion of Associate Professor Andrew Carroll, a forensic psychiatrist who recently told the court Mussillon would never have become involved in the offending if not for his "social incompetence".
Mussillon's lawyers pushed for him to be spared further time behind bars, citing factors that included him having already spent some seven-and-a-half months in custody.
But prosecutors argued this was not long enough, and Justice Mossop ultimately agreed.
While the judge described this as an "unfortunate conclusion", he said sparing Mussillon a return to custody would not adequately punish him, denounce his conduct or deter others.
With time already served on remand, Mussillon will be released from jail in late August.
Once he is freed, he will be subject to a good behaviour order for the rest of his sentence.
