Boss of agency owing $2.9m admits evading tax with new company

Wednesday, 26 February 2025

The boss of a recruitment agency that owes creditors $2.9 million has admitted she evaded tax with her second agency, but disputes how much she personally benefited.

Cassandra Knox entered guilty pleas to charges of tax evasion related to her company Elite Employment Ltd in the Christchurch District Court on Tuesday afternoon.

She was accused of aiding and abetting Elite Employment to withhold a GST return for the periods ending July 31 and September 30, 2024, and to withhold tax for a purpose other than payment to Inland Revenue, court documents previously showed.

However, her lawyer said there were “a number of facts” disputed in the summary facts related to the “amount of personal gain Knox is alleged to have obtained”.

A nominal monitoring date was set for a month’s time while the disputes are identified. The defence also intended to provide expert evidence from a forensic accountant, which Inland Revenue would have a chance to counter.

Outside court, Knox hid from a Press photographer behind a male companion for seven minutes and 20 seconds before before dashing across the street.

Knox registered Elite Employment in May last year, two hours and 55 minutes after her original recruitment agency, Trinity Employment Ltd, was placed into liquidation.

Trinity Employment owes $1.55m to Inland Revenue, $1.29m to unsecured creditors and $25,000 to employees. Former staff of the company spoke to The Press in August with claims of manipulation, an unhappy work environment, and late wages blamed on the bank.

The Press understands some Trinity Employment staff who previously spoke positively of Knox and followed her to Elite Employment later resigned.

Knox won the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce Emerging Leader Award in 2022.