Morgan Crawford: Pilbara entrepreneur and star law student facing jail for alleged money laundering

He claimed to have made $7 million before his 21st birthday, before reinventing himself as an aspiring law reformist when his Pilbara property empire went bust. Now entrepreneur and prospective star lawyer Morgan Crawford, 33, can add another occupation to his varied CV. Money launderer. The West Australian can reveal that the one-time poster boy for the Pilbara property boom is facing the very real prospect of an immediate jail term, over his part in an organised crime syndicate that sent copious amounts of cash from Perth to New South Wales. His crimes stem back to early 2020 when Crawford introduced close friend Brendan Fletcher-Ham to a group of cashed-up acquaintances he knew from his gym. Fletcher-Ham was facing a legal bill approaching $50,000, and Crawford made the connection so his friend could start earning to pay that bill off. Perth’s District Court was told Crawford — a Murdoch University law student earning stellar grades — did not initially know his friend would be asked to commit crimes. But, by April 3, 2020, he knew something dodgy was going on. It was on that day that Crawford purchased packing materials from a Perth courier service and supplied them to his friend. Days later, $199,950 in cash was sent east by Fletcher-Ham from Perth to NSW by courier. A week after that $238,550 was sent in the same direction. After police made an initial arrest, they placed listening devices inside Crawford’s Scarborough apartment. Through them they heard him talking to family about how he had introduced Fletcher-Ham to the “guys higher up”, and that he was going to attempt to get those same people to pay up. Police later found a cypher-encrypted phone, used by Fletcher-Ham to receive instructions, fully charged and hidden under Crawford’s bed. When asked, Crawford refused to hand over the PIN number. Prosecutor Madeleine Plester called for Crawford to be jailed immediately, telling him that money launderers, and those that help them, were the “lifeblood of organised crime”. While she conceded Crawford did not send the cash himself, he made the introduction, then engaged in “wilful blindness” as to how his friends were able to offer and pay high cash amounts for work. “It was a minor action in a much wider context. He chose not to care or inquire about the illegality,” Ms Pleister said. Fletcher-Ham was jailed for more than two years after he admitted his part in the money laundering plot. Defence barrister Simon Freitag said that in making the introduction, Crawford was trying to help a friend. He then tried to help again by storing the phone. “He is taking on problems he should have left well alone — that is just who he is,” Mr Freitag said. “In some cases, that goes badly wrong. This is one of them.” Judge Mark Ritter was urged not to match the jail term given to Fletcher-Ham — because of Crawford’s lesser involvement, his younger age, his cleaner record, and his prospects. “He could do, or achieve anything. He always has a big idea, a big plan. He ended up bankrupt, and bounced back from that,” Mr Freitag said. “And as a law student, his achievements are very impressive — I wouldn’t want to stack my grades up against his. “He has got a lot going for him.” Mr Crawford was granted bail until his sentencing hearing is completed in March.