Disgraced Perth lawyer Ted Dobson pleads guilty after global AN0M sting and Operation Ironside raids

A disgraced Perth lawyer caught up in a global sting that brought down a string of organised crime figures in Australia has pleaded guilty to serious charges in a last-minute plea deal. Ted Dobson — who was last year spared an immediate jail term for accepting a luxury car from notorious bikie boss Ray Cilli — had his offices and home dramatically raided in June 2021 as part of Operation Ironside. The years-long covert operation involved the Australian Federal Police and FBI monitoring the encrypted messaging app known as AN0M, which was installed on stripped-back mobile phones sold to criminals around the world on the black market. After being spied on in real time, Cilli and Dobson were among hundreds who were arrested. Dobson was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice and conspiring to do the same, and two counts of failing to comply with an order to unlock phones. The 31-year-old pleaded not guilty to all four charges and was due to face trial in the District Court of WA next week. But on Wednesday, his defence counsel Christian Porter revealed to Judge David MacLean that after spending the past few days in negotiations with Crown prosecutors, a resolution had been reached. Mr Porter said Steven Whybrow, representing the Commonwealth, had accepted his client’s plea offer on Tuesday night. Mr Porter assured the judge he had been told at the earliest reasonable opportunity. Under the agreement, the conspiracy to pervert justice charge will be discontinued and Dobson will plead guilty to the other three charges. His provisional trial start date, Tuesday, will now be used to do that and set a sentencing date. Dobson is out on bail and was not required to attend court to announce the negotiations breakthrough. “Can I thank you for the no doubt very hard work,” Judge MacLean said to the lawyers. Dobson followed his father Terry into the law, and they worked closely together until the former detective died suddenly in May 2021. Dobson junior also did a plea deal over a charge stemming from the car he was gifted by Cilli in 2019. Cilli, then State commander of the Comancheros, was rewarding the duo for a job well done after having a murder charge stemming from an assault on a fellow prisoner dropped. Cilli used $127,465 in dirty cash to buy the duo two Mercedes Benz. The same court was told Dobson junior looked to his father, who he revered, and was effectively told: “It’s fine, it’s a gift”. He was handed a 10 month term of imprisonment, suspended for 12 months. He had already voluntarily surrendered his practising certificate to the Legal Practice Board of WA.