Paying for escorts is legal in Australia - unless you use a union credit card to do it.
Former union boss and Labor MP Craig Thomson learnt that the hard way.
His $24,538 spending spree on prostitutes and personal expenses saw him sentenced to jail time and created a scandal that ended his political career.
But Thomson still insists he has done nothing illegal.
The former Health Services Union national secretary was handed a 12-month jail sentence, with nine months wholly suspended, on Tuesday for what a magistrate described as brazen offending and a huge breach of trust.
After spending about an hour in custody, Thomson emerged on bail to insist he's innocent and that he looks forward to an appeal in November against his conviction and sentence.
Thomson was convicted of 65 fraud charges, three committed while he was a member of federal parliament.
It was when Thomson became an MP in 2007 that the union started to ask questions.
When the union investigated the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of transactions on Thomson's Diners Club and MasterCard accounts, some suspicious items emerged.
Innocent-sounding company names like Aboutoun Catering and International Immobialiare turned out to be the trading names for brothels and escort agencies.
So-called dinner meetings seemed to have been paid for twice, and thousands of dollars of cash had been withdrawn from the credit cards.
When Fair Work Australia investigated him, Thomson denied doing anything wrong.
As he did when the allegations were aired in media reports.
And when a fragile minority government relied on his vote.
When the evidence looked overwhelming, Thomson told interviewer Laurie Oakes that other rival HSU officials had framed him.
He maintained that line of defence, and behind the shield of parliamentary privilege accused Marco Bolano of specifically threatening to set him up with "hookers".
After a long investigation and legal process the matter finally came to court for trial last December.
The Melbourne Magistrates Court heard Thomson used the alias Jeff Thomson when ordering escorts with union funds and once visited the "Red Turbo Spa Room" at a Sydney brothel.
It heard how Thomson personally instructed HSU employee Criselee Stevens that she was only to use the credit card for work purposes and cash withdrawals were not permitted.
When she breached this by using the card to pay for a subscription to an Astrological journal, Thomson had guidelines drawn up regarding the use of the card.
They state: "Any credit cards issued by the HSU cannot be used for personal expenses. All expenses must be for business related purposes ..."
Thomson took another employee to task for using the union card to book a personal flight and, even though she repaid the money, she resigned as a result of the incident.
But Thomson's barrister Greg James QC said his client had not been involved in a criminal deception.
"The accused here has been given the right to use the credit cards for transactions," he told the court.
"He doesn't deceive the bank, the credit card provider or the service provider.
"He doesn't deceive the HSU."
Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg said there could be some grey areas when drawing a line between business use and personal use when spending company money on business-related meals or entertainment.
He underscored this by finding Thomson not guilty on charges relating to hiring pornographic movies.
But he drew the line at sex workers.
"It would be an affront to common sense to consider that within those grey areas would be items such as paying for the services of a sex worker from an escort agency," Mr Rozencwajg said.
Sentencing him on Tuesday, Mr Rozencwajg said Thomson was a greedy and arrogant man, who had a sense of self entitlement.
He said the fact the union funds were used to pay for sexual services did not affect the sentence, but it highlighted the selfish ends of Thomson's behaviour.
"Nothing has been put before me to suggest these offences were committed for any reason other than greed."
Thomson's appeal will begin on November 24, but that may not be the end of his legal troubles.
He still faces possible civil prosecution by the Fair Work Commission, which is considering its position on matters Thomson was acquitted of in the criminal case.
