Construction boss George Alex has been living freely in the community for nearly a year — despite being sentenced to almost 10 years in jail for a $10 million tax fraud.

Alex was handed a maximum of nine years and three months in December 2024 after a marathon six-month trial. But by August 2025, he was out on conditional bail after his lawyers successfully argued "special or exceptional circumstances" for his release.

Now he's back in the NSW Supreme Court, fighting to have his convictions quashed entirely. If that fails, he wants his sentence shortened.

### The bail conditions

Alex's release came with strings attached. He must report to police daily, stick to a curfew, surrender his passport, stay away from airports, and hand over his phone passwords to cops.

His lawyer Tim Game SC argued there was a "risk of a substantial miscarriage of justice" because of alleged misconduct by two jurors who were later discharged.

"Once it was known that research had spread among the jury ... we say the whole jury had to go … but at the least, [one more] had to go," Game said.

Seeking information outside tendered evidence can be a criminal offence, punishable by up to five years' jail.

Game also raised an issue with Juror G discussing drug dealing with Juror A. Juror A was accused of having conversations with Juror G "about taking kickbacks" to find a not guilty verdict. Juror G said Juror A had told him to "name your price". It was later discovered that Juror A had a personal connection with someone involved in the case.

### The Crown's response

Crown prosecutor Elizabeth H Ruddle KC pushed back hard. She argued that Juror G — having been "caught out" by his own improper behaviour — accused others without evidence.

"There is not a sufficient finding of apprehended bias by this jury," she said.

Another issue in the appeal is non-evidentiary material allegedly present in the jury deliberation room for two weeks. The judge removed it once aware and found that a direction to disregard it was enough.

### The tax fraud scheme

The fraud ran from 2018 to 2020. Alex secretly owned a labour-hire business even though he was an undischarged bankrupt and legally barred from being involved.

He had no business email address and rarely spoke to co-conspirators on the phone. But the trial judge found he was instrumental in the scheme, which siphoned off more than $100,000 a week in pay-as-you-go taxes owed to the Commonwealth.

Justice Desmond Fagan said Alex received the "lion's share" of the criminal proceeds. The Crown alleged that included $1 million transferred to a company he used as a personal "moneybox", $150,000 in rental payments for his family home, and $74,000 toward a Range Rover for his wife.

Alex was originally sentenced to a non-parole period of six years and two months before getting bail eight months later.

### What happens now

The appeal hearing is expected to run four to five days. If Alex fails to get his convictions quashed, he'll argue for a shorter sentence.

Meanwhile, he's been living in the community since August 2025 — a reality that might surprise those who thought he was behind bars.