Former NSW director Mark Barnes has been sentenced to one year and ten months’ imprisonment in the District Court of New South Wales after dishonestly obtaining $2,478,624 by selling false invoices, ASIC said.
The sentence, handed down on Thursday, will be served by way of an Intensive Correction Order with one year of home detention. Barnes must also perform 300 hours of community service.
Barnes was director of Barnes Marketing Services Pty Ltd (In Liquidation), a sales and marketing business serving organisations in the Australian arts industry. From May 2018 to about December 2019, he sold false invoices from the company to Handley Advisory Partners Pty Ltd trading as FIFO Capital Metro NSW, which advances cash against invoice receivables.
Barnes generally repaid amounts around the date required but continued submitting further false invoices on a rolling basis. FIFO was left owing $270,412.
Deputy Chief Judge C O’Brien found the offending was “not impulsive” and involved a “degree of sophistication” including falsified invoices, emails and bank statements.
Barnes pleaded guilty in November 2025. He is now automatically disqualified from managing companies for five years until 1 April 2031.
The matter was prosecuted by the CDPP following an ASIC investigation triggered by a funded report from Hall Chadwick liquidator Steven Gladman.
