Ex-umpire committed to stand trial on Brownlow fraud

A former AFL referee has appeared in court over allegations he passed inside information to his brother and friends to place bets on Brownlow Medal votes.

Michael Pell, his brother Donovan and partner Mitch Lucas face a hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court this week over alleged betting fraud.

His lawyers argued that all charges should be dropped due to loopholes in the law and that Victoria does not criminalize insider trading.

However, judge Patrick Southey rejected these claims and found there was sufficient evidence for all three to stand trial.

He said Pell may have committed corruption by revealing confidential information about the 2021 Brownlow vote to his brother and Lucas, who bet on it.

“He knew his situation and was corrupt in disclosing that information and there is of course evidence that they acted on that information,” Mr Southey told the court on Thursday afternoon.

“And it appears that this information overturned the betting outcome, they won and the agencies lost.”

After handing over the men, the judge recorded his feelings about the case after reading extensive statements from the lawyers.

“I was saddened by the conflation of gambling and sports for a certain generation of young men,” Mr Southey said.

The group allegedly earned approximately $300,000 from the betting scheme.

The Pell brothers and Lucas pleaded not guilty to all their crimes in court Thursday.

Pell was arrested in November 2022 but not charged until August 2025, and his lawyer Sam Tovey previously argued the prosecution’s case against him could be thrown out because Victoria has no laws on insider trading.

“What you have here is a situation involving the crime of insider dealing that can only be seen as willful negligence on the part of this state,” Mr. Tovey said.

“Every jurisdiction has outlawed insider trading outside of Victoria.”

The former referee is charged with six counts of betting fraud for allegedly disclosing information about the voting numbers of some players during the 2021 Brownlow Medal and passing it on to people placing bets.

On-field umpires award Brownlow votes to players on a 3-2-1 basis immediately following each match.

“There is no suggestion that the votes were tainted or corrupted in any way,” Mr. Tovey said.

“In the prosecution case, these tallies were not altered, they were real, they were real; Mr. Pell knew what they were.”

Mr Tovey said any ambiguity in the legislation “must be resolved in favor of the defendant”.

Prosecutor Greg Buchhorn disagreed with the defense and said the law was broad enough to include insider trading.

“Victoria did not remove insider information from the legislation… the legislation already covered this,” he told the court.

He said Pell’s disclosure of the information was “corrupt behaviour” and that when he told Donovan and Lucas about the Brownlow votes they knew he was an AFL referee.

They then used this information to place bets or share it with colleagues, which was another element of the crime, he said.

Mr Southey ultimately agreed with the prosecution’s defense arguments.

“They made a lot of money off games refereed by Michael Pell. When I read the legislation, it couldn’t be clearer that the outcome of the bet was changed as a result of inside information they received,” he said.

The group, who have all been released on bail, will appear in the District Court for a directions hearing on July 24.

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