Former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) head Geoff Clark has been jailed for six years and two months after being found guilty of defrauding his community in south-west Victoria to the tune of almost $1 million.

Clark faced three consecutive jury trials beginning on December 1, 2023, with a fourth and final trial abandoned and a charge dismissed in September this year.

The 72-year-old south-west Victorian Indigenous leader has been in custody since September 11 after being found guilty of 25 charges, spanning roughly two decades of offending against his local Indigenous community at Framlingham near Warrnambool.

Clark ascended to the role of chairperson of the now-defunct ATSIC in 1999, effectively making him the most powerful Indigenous man in Australia for short time in the early 2000s.

His offending related to his role with several Indigenous organisations connected to the Framlingham community.

Clarke used position for own personal gains, court heard

Clark became the leader of his community at Framlingham in the late 70s, running it on and off for about three decades.

The County Court heard Clark used his position as administrator of the Framlingham Aboriginal Trust and his involvement with other connected organisations for his own personal gain.

Clark had pleaded not guilty to 38 charges and was ultimately found guilty on 25 counts across three trials, with the fourth abandoned after his son Jeremy Clark agreed to plead guilty and the prosecution withdrew a charge against Geoff Clark.

Some of the 25 charges Clark was found guilty on related to using community money to pay his legal fees to battle several high-profile cases in the 2000s, including civil County Court proceedings in 2007 that found Clark had led two pack rapes against Carol Anne Stingel in 2007.

Juries on the recent trials also found Clark guilty of using community money to pay rates and utility bills on four properties Clark owned and then lying about owning them in his bankruptcy proceedings, sparking perjury and false testimony charges.

In other instances he pocketed the rent on a trust-owned property and the royalties on a trust-owned eel fishing licence.

The total amount gained by Clark was estimated to be $922,215, with $400,000 repaid following legal action by the community against Clark.

His son Jeremy Clark, 51, also pleaded not guilty to 20 fraud-related charges across two trials. He was found guilty on seven and pleaded guilty to an eighth charge.

Jeremy Clark was sentenced to two years and two months jail, wholly suspended for two years and two months, and placed on a two-year good-behaviour bond.

At the committal phase, Geoff, his wife Trudy and their sons Aaron and Jeremy Clarke faced a combined total of more than 1,000 charges.

By the time the matters got to trial, Trudy Clark's charges had been dropped and Aaron Clark had a single remaining charge dealt with through the diversion process.

Treated community resources as his 'own'

In sentencing, Judge Michael O'Connell told the County Court it was "difficult to reconcile the conflict between the good [Geoff Clark had] done for his community and the wrongs [he had] committed" against it.

Judge O'Connell said Clark had exploited weak governance structures in the Framlingham community and undertaken "a carefully calculated course of conduct … to divert funds for personal purposes".

"You came to treat the communities resources as your own," he said.

Judge O'Connell highlighted evidence where Clark presented an auditor's report to a community meeting detailing a difficult financial position that would result in staff being sacked at Christmas and the community suffering.

"You knew [at that time] you had stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars …and had it not been for your dishonesty, the community's financial position wouldn't have been as dire," he said.

Judge O'Connell said Clark had shown no remorse.

Clark has served 78 days in pre-sentence detention, and will be eligible for parole in approximately three and a half years.