- Dylan DiPierdomenico received $140,717.70 from golf wholesaler
- AFL icon Son of Hawthorn to return to field on January 30
AFL legend Robert ‘Dipper’ DiPierdomenico downplayed his son’s $140,000 fraud as “it was just money”, the victim has claimed.
Dylan DiPierdomenico appeared in Melbourne County Court on Monday after pleading guilty to obtaining property by deception from MGI Golf while he was national sales director.
He stole $140,717.70 from the family-owned golf wholesaler between August 2018 and June 2019 by making 71 fraudulent transactions with its customers.
DiPierdomenico provided clients with invoices from MGI containing their PayPal or bank account information and received around $119,000 into their personal accounts.
MGI CEO Carrie Edwards-Britt said the business was started by her father and that DiPierdomenico had been entrusted with one of the few high-level positions not held by the family.
She discovered the fraud herself while analyzing reports on the company’s finances and then reported it to the police.
Dylan DiPierdomenico (pictured outside a Melbourne court on Monday) stole more than $140,000 from the family business he worked for.

DiPierdomenico said he had stolen from the business after succumbing to a gambling addiction.
“When Dylan admitted to us that he had been stealing from MGI, it hurt our family and our business,” he told the court.
“I was in damage control with our clients… who had been caught in Dylan’s web of lies and deceit.”
He said the company was stable and profitable at the time of the crime, so fortunately it did not “ruin” the family business.
Ms Edwards-Britt claimed DiPierdomenico’s father told a mutual friend that he “didn’t understand why we were so upset because it was just money and his son had made us a lot of money”.
‘Dylan didn’t make us money. “You didn’t meet your sales targets while you worked for us,” he said.
He called for DiPierdomenico to be jailed and asked him to return the amount he had stolen from the business.
DiPierdomenico took the stand and apologized to Ms Edwards-Britt and her family for the offence.
“They are a wonderful family, they gave me a great opportunity and I betrayed their trust,” he told the court.

Robert DiPierdomenico (pictured with Rebecca Hindson) allegedly downplayed his son’s fraud by saying “it was just money.”

Dylan DiPierdomenico (pictured with his father) said he intended to return the money he had stolen as soon as he could.
He said he had stolen from the business after succumbing to a gambling addiction, a crutch for dealing with pressures and anxiety amid family problems and an ADHD diagnosis.
DiPierdomenico said he intended to return the money he had stolen as soon as he could.
Under questioning by Judge Richard Maidment, he revealed he did not disclose the offense to his next employer.
—You knew perfectly well that you had committed those crimes but decided not to reveal them to your new employer? the judge asked DiPierdomenico.
“I don’t know why I didn’t reveal it at the time,” he responded.
Prosecutor Francesca Holmes asked the judge to give DiPierdomenico a prison sentence in combination with a community work order.
However, his lawyer Hayden Rattray asked that his client avoid jail time and instead receive a five-year community corrections order.
Rattray said DiPierdomenico had been subjected to years of delays in the case, since the crime began in 2018, and noted that the media attention had a significant impact on him.
“The reality is that his face has been bombarded in the pages of the newspaper and in media reports for many, many months.”
DiPierdomenico, who is free on bail, will return to court for sentencing on January 30.