A woman who paid a Finks motorcycle gang associate to blackmail her two brothers for more than $2 million is behind bars, despite one sibling urging the court to consider her devotion to her family.
Preston woman Deirdre Wilkes pleaded guilty to one count of blackmail on Monday, when County Court Judge Simon Moglia confirmed he would hand the 56-year-old a custodial sentence.
In May, Moglia sentenced Wilkes’ co-accused, Finks associate Gazi Assi, to a maximum two-year prison term over his role in the extortion plot, which was hatched after he met Wilkes at the North Heidelberg Football Club in March 2025.
The mother of three and her husband, Deane Wilkes, had been embroiled in a long-running and bitter dispute with her two siblings over the value of their stake in a company called Into Blinds Pty Ltd.
Wilkes’ husband was sacked from the company by her brothers in 2023, which caused a rift over the value of the business, and the amount that Deane and Deirdre Wilkes were entitled to.
The court heard Deirdre agreed to pay Assi $20,000 to stand over her two brothers and extract $2.25 million.
Assi took photographs of their homes and cars, while also taking images of the Stolberg Hotel when the pair dined with their families there on March 14 last year.
On March 24, Wilkes and Assi met with the Finks national president Mark Balsillie at South Yarra restaurant Gilson. On the same day, Assi visited the Thomastown headquarters of Into Blinds and demanded $3 million from one of the brothers.
“I’m urging you right now, don’t go to the police. If you do there’s going to be chaos,” Assi warned the brother.
The siblings were eventually instructed to pay $2.25 million by Assi, who demanded they make an initial payment of $450,000 the following day, or their family would pay.
Wilkes’ lawyer Shivani Pillai said her client was unaware that Assi would use threats of violence when she engaged his services as a “negotiator”.
Pillai told the court that Wilkes and her husband had significant debts and a bank had moved to seize their home at the time of her offending, which was motivated by “naivety and desperation”.
A victim impact statement from one of her brothers urged the court to consider her former good character, her devotion to her three children and her unblemished criminal record.
In May, Moglia set a non-parole term of 12 months for Assi, after he pleaded guilty to one count of blackmail and one count of using a carriage service to harass.
In his sentencing, Moglia said that while the blackmail occurred on a single day, the gravity of Assi’s offending was reflected in his two-week campaign of threats, pressure, and references to involving a “powerful or influential national figure” in the dispute.
“Your blackmail of the victims in this case is not a low-level example of this offence,” Moglia said.
“You told him to pay $3 million and again warned him about not involving police or there would be chaos.”
After Wilkes’ arrest, Assi bombarded her daughter with dozens of phone calls and text messages, resulting in the harassment charge.
“It was persistent over three days, including in the middle of the night, and it was fuelled by your self-interest about being identified,” Moglia said.
Deane Wilkes launched civil action in the Victorian Supreme Court against Into Blinds Pty Ltd, which also names his estranged brothers-in-law as co-defendants, according to a statement of claim seen by The Age.
He has not been charged with any offences and The Age does not suggest he is involved in any wrongdoing.
Deirdre Wilkes faces sentencing on November 6.
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