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Former Casella Brands director pleads guilty to concealing cannabis plants
Marcello Casella, former director of Australia’s Casella Family Brands, the parent company of brands Yellow Tail and Peter Lehmann, has pleaded guilty to concealing almost 3,000 cannabis plants and now faces up to two years in prison for failing to declare knowledge of a criminal syndicate to police.
Marcello Casella, who resigned as director of his family’s company in 2014, has revised his initial plea of not guilty given at the beginning of his trial, which began in May.
He now faces up to two years in prison for failing to inform police about the criminal syndicate, which it is claimed, included his friend Luigi Fato.
A statement issued by Casella Family Brands, which was valued at AU$1.5 billion last year, noted: “Marcello Casella resigned as a director of Casella Family Brands in February 2014 and continues to have no involvement in the management or operation of the company”.
In February 2014, police seized 2,750 cannabis plants growing on a remote farm in New South Wales, following an undercover investigation.
The Crown prosecution alleges that Casella provided financial support and advice to five people involved in the plot. Recordings of phone conversations obtained by the police prove that Casella knew about the plan to cultivate marijuana cuttings.
Evidence supplied to court also proves that Casella was aware that Andre Turner, one of his employees, was also involved. Turner has pleaded guilty to his role in cultivating a commercial quantity of cannabis.
In a statement in Turner’s trial, the court noted: “The prosecution accepts that there is a reasonable possibility that the offender was participating in the commission of the offences at the direction of others”.
Earlier in the trial it was claimed that this cannabis farm was “part of a wider enterprise” in which Casella was involved but Turner was not. This allegedly involved a plan to purchase a second farm as well as a machine which extracts THC from the plants.
It is claimed that Fato initially hatched the plan in May 2013 with Turner brought into to help establish the cuttings in December 2013. In January 2014, it is alleged that Casella became aware that at least 1,000 cuttings had been planted. Casella was first questioned by police later that year.
In March last year, Casella Brands restructured in order to ensure it remained in family hands.
As part of the deal, brothers John, Joe and Marcello Casella, the sons of Casella’s founders Fillippo and Maria Casella who died in 2009 and 2014 respectively, each took a share of their late mother’s 45% stake in the company.
John Casella, who become managing director of Casella Family Brands in 1994, took a 50% stake in the business, with Joe and Marcello awarded a 30% and 20% stake respectively.
The twelve-week trial, being held at the New South Wales District Court, continues.