Joanne Pellew

Introduction

Joanne Pellew is a former Western Australian company director who was sentenced in the District Court of Western Australia on September 4, 2026, to a total effective sentence of three and a half years’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of one year and nine months, for Corporations Act offences. On July 2, 2026, a jury found Pellew guilty of three counts of dishonestly using her position as a director, contrary to s184(2)(a), and one count of managing corporations while disqualified, contrary to s206A(1)(a), of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) prosecuted the matter following an ASIC investigation and referral.

Background Information

Pellew was automatically disqualified from managing corporations on February 20, 2019, when she was made a bankrupt. ASIC also disqualified her from managing corporations for five years commencing October 28, 2019. In May 2021 she was charged with breaching her directors’ duties, making a false or misleading statement to ASIC and managing a corporation while disqualified. At the time of the offending, s184 of the Corporations Act carried a maximum penalty of imprisonment of five years and/or a fine of 2000 penalty units, and s206A carried a maximum penalty of imprisonment of five years and/or a fine of up to 600 penalty units.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted and sentenced. A jury found Joanne Pellew guilty on July 2, 2026, of three counts of dishonestly using her position as a director and one count of managing corporations while disqualified under the Corporations Act 2001, and on September 4, 2026, Justice Howard sentenced her to a total effective three and a half years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of one year and nine months.

Her conviction concerned her conduct in May 2018, when she dishonestly and unlawfully made three separate transfers totalling around $739,655 from Ochre Training Pty Ltd to Ochre Workforce Solutions Pty Ltd, and in June 2019, when she participated in making decisions that affected Ochre People Pty Ltd by entering a labour hire agreement with the Western Australian Country Health Service while disqualified from managing corporations. The June 2019 agreement was made while she was subject to the automatic disqualification triggered by her bankruptcy in February 2019; ASIC’s separate five-year disqualification commenced the following October.

In sentencing Ms Pellew, his Honour Justice Howard stated: “white-collar offending is often difficult to detect, investigate and prosecute, and I find that to be the case here. The law allows for the creation of companies as fictional persons, which allow for limited liability trading, and that is to protect individuals from liability. However, directors’ duties are imposed to prevent, in part, abuses of the corporate form.”

Public Reaction and Consequences

Justice Howard’s remarks framed the case as an example of the difficulty of detecting and prosecuting white-collar crime, and of why directors’ duties exist to prevent abuses of the corporate form. The outcome is custodial: a total effective sentence of three and a half years, with parole not available until one year and nine months has been served. The convictions rest on a jury verdict returned after a trial rather than pleas, covering transfers of around $739,655 between related Ochre companies and a labour hire agreement with the state’s country health service made while she was disqualified.

Current Status

Pellew is serving a total effective sentence of three and a half years’ imprisonment imposed on September 4, 2026, with a non-parole period of one year and nine months. She was found guilty in July 2026 of four offences and sentenced in the District Court of Western Australia, in proceedings prosecuted by the CDPP after an ASIC investigation and referral. Her bankruptcy-triggered disqualification of February 2019 and ASIC’s five-year disqualification of October 2019 remain matters of published ASIC record.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Pellew’s directorship career ended in a jury conviction for dishonestly using her position and for managing corporations while barred, closing a chain of public records that runs from her February 2019 bankruptcy through ASIC’s 2019 disqualification, the May 2021 charges and the July 2026 verdicts to the September 2026 sentence. The judge’s finding that white-collar offending of this kind is often difficult to detect, investigate and prosecute — and was in her case — now sits alongside a sentence that took her into custody with parole available only after one year and nine months.

Sources

• Australian Securities and Investments Commission, “26-208MR Former WA director Joanne Pellew sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment for Corporations Act offences,” September 7, 2026 — source