A drug and alcohol counsellor jailed for trafficking illicit substances to his own grandson has been ordered to pay almost $500,000 for false accounting.
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Anthony Dieni, who received an Order of Australia for his work helping addicts get clean, is currently behind bars in Victoria, serving an up to 14-year prison sentence.
After a 39-year career at St Paul's Prevention Rehabilitation, he admitted lying in bail applications and sentence hearings for clients in exchange for cocaine and other drugs.
He gave clients other people's urine samples so they could pass drug tests and received more than $448,000 in undocumented entitlements which he used to pay his mortgage and other bills.
He has now been ordered to repay that money in full.
When she sentenced Dieni, County Court Judge Patricia Riddell described his fall from grace as "a crash worthy of Icarus".
A psychologist found Dieni placed himself in a role where he felt admired, needed and respected - behaviour consistent with a Messiah complex.
"I am classed as a genius," Dieni had said.
"I'm remorseful that I will lose my Order of Australia when I'm convicted."
He was ordered to serve a least nine years before he's eligible for parole.
Australian Associated Press
