Three people involved in defrauding an electrical wholesaler out of hundreds of thousands of dollars put the company into a "death spiral".
Ricky John Byrne, 50, Lisa Quilter, 46, and Steven Quilter, 46, faced a sentencing hearing in the ACT Supreme Court last week.
Byrne and Steven Quilter before pleaded guilty to getting property by deception, theft, and money laundering.
Court documents state that Steven Quilter and Byrne started working at POPES Electrical and Data Supplies in Phillip in 2008.
From 2015, Steven Quilter was the branch manager and the other man a sales manager.
Between 2016 and 2019, the two men defrauded the business of hundreds of thousands of dollars in false invoices, refunds and stock theft.
Steven Quilter and Byrne would buy electrical items from Harvey Norman and place them on the POPES' business credit card or account.
With the help of Steven's wife, Lisa Quilter, they would sell the items to associates, smaller businesses or place them on eBay.
Between May 2016 and October 2019, more than $460,000 in exchange for the stolen property was deposited into a joint bank account owned by the married couple.
While the matter was reported to police in October 2019, police did not search the homes of the fraudsters until March and April 2025.
Last week, in a victim impact statement that was read to the court, the owner of POPES said the local business had been operating for 40 years.
The owner said the business which used to have three stores in Canberra was now down to one in Mitchell, and staff had been cut by more than half.