Former NSW director, Mark Barnes, who dishonestly obtained $2,478,624 by deception, has been sentenced in the District Court of New South Wales to a term of imprisonment of one year and ten months.
The sentence will be served by way of an Intensive Correction Order (ICO), with one year of home detention. An additional condition of the ICO imposed on Mr Barnes is that he is required to perform 300 hours of community service work.
At the time of the offence, Mr Barnes was the director of Barnes Marketing Services Pty Ltd (In Liquidation), a company which operated as a sales and marketing business for organisations in the Australian arts industry.
From 28 May 2018 to about 20 December 2019, Mr Barnes sold false invoices from Barnes Marketing Services to financial funding company Handley Advisory Partners Pty Ltd trading as FIFO Capital Metro NSW (FIFO). FIFO provides cash flow solutions including advance payments on the face value of purchased invoices.
Mr Barnes generally repaid the amounts advanced and obtained from FIFO around the date required for repayment but continued to submit further false invoices on a rolling basis to continue to have funds available. As a result of Mr Barnes' offending, FIFO was owed $270,412.
In sentencing Mr Barnes, Deputy Chief Judge C O'Brien found that the offending was not impulsive but was accompanied by a degree of sophistication which included the production of falsified invoices, emails and bank statements. Deputy Chief Judge C O'Brien also found that no other sentence but one of imprisonment was appropriate.
As a result of his conviction, Mr Barnes is automatically disqualified from managing companies for five years until 1 April 2031.
The matter was prosecuted by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) (CDPP).
Background
Mr Barnes was charged with dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception in December 2024 (25-007MR).
On 11 November 2025, Mr Barnes pleaded guilty to one count of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception contrary to section 192E(1)(b) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW).
A further offence contrary to section 192E(1)(b) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) was taken into account on sentence pursuant to the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW).
ASIC commenced an investigation after receiving a funded report from Steven Gladman of Hall Chadwick, the liquidator appointed to Barnes Marketing Services Pty Ltd (In Liquidation) on 25 May 2021. ASIC provided funding to Mr Gladman from the Assetless Administration Fund to investigate the matter.
