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Victoria's Office of Public Prosecutions withdrew blackmail charges against Bandidos president Joel Leavitt, a former CFMEU Big Build official, in a major setback for Taskforce Hawk. Leavitt pleaded guilty to two lesser offences and was fined $2000.
Victoria's Office of Public Prosecutions has withdrawn a blackmail charge against Joel Leavitt, the Melbourne boss of the Bandidos outlaw bikie gang and a former CFMEU Big Build official.
The decision this week is a major setback for authorities seeking to clean up Victoria's building sector. Leavitt had been accused of demanding a building industry financier pay more than $650,000 to a construction firm owner. Police alleged he was recorded saying someone has to pay after the victim explained he owed no debt. Legal sources not authorised to speak publicly said a jury would never hear the recording.
Blackmail Charge Withdrawn Over Legal Concerns
The OPP dropped the blackmail charge due to concerns Victoria's criminal law did not unequivocally outlaw the conduct allegedly captured on the covert recording. One area of legal concern was that Leavitt's message that he could be very convincing, along with his appearance at his alleged victim's businesses with patched bikie gang members, may not be enough to establish the menacing behaviour a prosecutor must prove under Victorian law.
Police had also obtained CCTV footage of Leavitt, accompanied by several patched Bandido gang members, attending two business premises associated with the alleged victim in the hours and days before the demand. He was also filmed driving past the purported victim's home. The legal sources said the OPP decision highlighted why police have held longstanding concerns about flaws in Victoria's criminal laws.
It also sent a message to bikie gangs that they could work as debt collectors and mediators in the construction sector with little fear of police action. One official source said that as long as they are careful with what they say, a bikie gang boss in Victoria is free under the law to collect debts or negotiate with unions or building companies with their gang members.
Taskforce Hawk Targets Building Sector Crime
The decision to abandon the blackmail case is a significant blow for Taskforce Hawk, which was launched in July 2025 to investigate crime and corruption in the building industry. Leavitt has been a high-priority target given his major building industry activities. The former Queensland CFMEU activist and veteran bikie was recruited by the Victorian branch of the union around 2021 to work as a health and safety representative on Melbourne's Metro Tunnel and the Hurstbridge rail line upgrade.
Until he was forced from the union after being shot at a bikie clubhouse in 2023, Leavitt allegedly exploited his CFMEU power to give lucrative Big Build jobs to bikie gang members and criminals. In 2024, the union arranged for Leavitt to work at an Amazon data centre site in Melbourne's west. He then launched his own demolition and labour-hire business, which continues to operate in Victoria and Queensland in partnership with other Bandido gang members.
Legislative changes first sought by police from the state Labor government in 2014 would have made it a criminal offence for an outlaw bikie gang member such as Leavitt to work as a union representative or construction industry mediator or debt collector. In June, 12 years after Fontana's testimony and after police made repeated submissions to the government for legislative reform, senior police issued an identical public plea for action.
Kourakis Royal Commission Seeks Reform
Taskforce Hawk Detective Inspector Ross Mitchell told Premier Ben Carroll has indicated he will support police requests for reform. Carroll established the Kourakis royal commission after becoming leader in late July. Asked about the government's failure to act on previous police calls for action, he said the royal commission has the power to make recommendations on any urgent or immediate actions that should be taken to respond to criminal conduct on current construction projects.
The withdrawal of the blackmail charges will likely be seized upon by supporters of Leavitt from the exiled CFMEU leadership regime who have attacked Hawk as engaging in overreach. Victoria Police was heavily criticised by the CFMEU when the OPP withdrew blackmail charges laid in 2015 against the union's then-boss John Setka.
While escaping his blackmail charges, Leavitt on Thursday pleaded guilty to two lesser offences: failing to provide police access to his phone's PIN code and engaging in debt collection despite having a prior conviction for violence. He was convicted and fined $2000. Under existing Victorian consumer law, a bikie gang boss can lawfully collect debts in the company of gang members, but a person convicted of fraud or violence cannot.
Leavitt Pleads Guilty to Lesser Offences
Leavitt's lawyer, Christopher Terry, told the Melbourne Magistrates' Court his client was never violent during the January meeting in which the demand for money was made. He said his client was not making threats, describing him as polite and, dare I say it, charming.
However, prosecutor Natasa Stevic insisted the interaction with the Bandidos president was both frightening and terrifying for the alleged victim. Terry also said Leavitt was planning to move interstate as he could no longer find construction work in Victoria due to ongoing media attention. In July, the prospect that the blackmail case against Leavitt might collapse was first flagged during a Magistrates' Court hearing.
The court heard that if it could not be proven that Leavitt's conduct amounted to blackmail, charges against several co-accused would also fall away. On January 18, Leavitt met with five others, some of them patched bikies, to discuss money owed from a business loan gone bad. The alleged victim refused to attend and asked Leavitt to instead meet him at a factory in Brooklyn.
Police said the next day, Leavitt and patched bikie members on motorbikes and in cars allegedly went to the Brooklyn factory and demanded payment. The case has raised fresh questions about why the state Labor government has failed to act on repeated police requests first issued in 2014 and most recently again this year to toughen laws to force gangland figures out of the construction sector.
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theage:Extortion case collapses against bikie boss who was recorded allegedly warning ‘someone has to pay’ 
smh:Extortion case collapses against bikie boss who was recorded allegedly warning ‘someone has to pay’This story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
Bandidos Bikie Gang Victoria Building Industry CFMEU Taskforce Hawk Victoria Blackmail Case CFMEU Construction Sector
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