A council leader set up a fictitious heritage society to defraud his local authority out of thousands of pounds which he then pocketed, a court heard.
Jason Zadrozny, 46, faces jail after he was today found guilty of fraud and tax evasion.
The independent Nottinghamshire county councillor had named himself chairman of the Ashfield Heritage Society (AHS) before applying for grants for ‘good causes’.
He then withdrew the money in cash – some of which was used to buy a house for more than £70,000 with friends and fellow Ashfield independent councillors Helen-Ann Smith and Thomas Hollis. When it sold for £168,000, Zadrozny was ‘gifted’ £68,000.
Zadrozny – once Britain's youngest council leader when he took charge at Ashfield District Council in 2007 – also set up a classic cinema club for Carry On film fans only to 'help himself' when it received a £1,200 taxpayer grant.
He earned £50,000 a year from his various public roles but was living beyond his means and often in debt, the court heard. At one point he had just £3 in his account.
He denied fraud and callously tried to pin the blame on a dead former colleague and friend Tony Brewer – claiming to have handed over the cash to him for a war memorial restoration project.
But jurors found him guilty of nine counts of fraud and four counts of tax evasion relating to four rental properties he owns – prompting immediate calls for him to stand down.
His Honour Judge David Herbert KC said he would be 'plainly at risk of a custodial sentence' when he is sentenced in November.
Jason Zadrozny, 42, and his husband Jack Bland, 28, who supported him in court every day
Zadrozny, pictured campaigning, denied 12 counts of fraud and four counts of tax evasion
Zadrozny arriving at Northampton Crown Court for his trial
Reacting to the verdict, Reform MP for Ashfield Lee Anderson said: 'Councillor Jason Zadrozny has brought shame upon our area and local politics.
'This guilty verdict has proved once and for all that he has only ever been involved in politics for personal gain.
'What I find truly shocking is that the well respected Cllr Brewer was accused by Zadrozny of taking council funds after his death as part of Zadrozny's defence.
'Zadrozny must now step down from his councillor role so a byelection can take place.'
Zadrozny showed no emotion as the verdicts were delivered. He was supported in court by Hollis, one of Ashfield District Council's deputy leaders, and his husband Jack Bland, 28.
Following the guilty verdict, it can now be revealed Hollis has a string of previous convictions, including for harassment of his neighbours following a row over a hot-tub party during lockdown which he claimed was a council meeting.
He also has convictions for criminal damage and careless driving and was described by Reform MP Lee Anderson as 'Ashfield's number one public nuisance' and a 'one-man crime wave'.
Hollis was fined £2,400 last year for failing to register a financial interest in the property.
Ms Smith was not charged in connection with these fraud proceedings. She gave evidence at the trial in which she described her relationship with Zadrozny as that of a 'brother and sister' but denied lying for him or being a 'front' when buying the property to conceal that Hollis and Zadrozny were the real owners.
Zadrozny's trial heard he opened a 'scam' bank account for AHS in 2018. He applied for grants amounting to thousands of pounds which he withdrew in cash.
He then applied for funding from the Councillors' Divisional Fund, a £5,000 pot made available to every representative by the county council to support local organisations.
Three days after setting up the account, he applied for £7,500 of funding for the group, including £3,500 from his own allocation, jurors were told.
The court heard that the address on the application form was given as 213 Forest Road, which does not exist.
Prosecutors said he set up the society 'which never existed and never did anything' and was given a fake address because he needed 'quite a bit of money, in a hurry'.
The money was taken from the society's account in three withdrawals in March and April 2018 and Zadrozny said it was all handed over to Brewer, who died of Covid in 2020.
Financial records show he had previously transferred £12,000 to Hollis for the house. The property was later bought for more than £70,000 by Ms Smith.
When the house was sold in September 2021, for £168,000, Ms Smith paid Hollis £97,000 and more than £68,000 was 'gifted' to Zadrozny.
In August 2018, Zadrozny asked for a further £1,600 for AHS for 'funding towards the cost of commemorative events, badges, poppies and road decorations'.
Giving evidence, Zadrozny claimed the society was set up to fund the cleaning and repairing of memorials for the 100-year anniversary of the end of the First World War.
He said he had taken the cash out of the bank and handed it immediately over to former Ashfield District council chairman Tony Brewer, who died aged 74 from Covid in 2020 to carry out the work.
Zadrozny said he never doubted Mr Brewer's integrity and 'goodness shone out of him'.
Zadrozny, who was first elected in 2007, told police officers Mr Brewer was 'one of the nicest people' adding: 'I am quite frankly annoyed about this – he is not here to defend himself.'
The interview ended when officers pointed out the two people he had named to corroborate his story were both dead. He was asked by one of the officers: 'Is there anyone you can name we can go and speak to who might be able to clear up these issues?'
Zadrozny replied: 'I don't know.'
Mr Brewer's partner told the court she was 'upset' with Zadrozny for trying to 'blame' him.
The court heard evidence from several people who had known Mr Brewer – including family members – and none said they had ever heard him speak of AHS or any projects connected to it.
One of those questioned was Patricia Percival, the partner of Mr Brewer for more than 30 years, who said that to say she was upset with Zadrozny would be an 'understatement'.
Zadrozny handed the cash over to deputy leader Helen-Ann Smith for the purchase of a property
Fellow deputy leader Tom Hollis also has a string of criminal convictions and faces calls to stand down
When the police started making inquiries about Zadrozny's handling of council cash in 2021, it was found the cash in the cinema club's file in his house was not made up of the same notes as originally withdrawn in 2019.
Zadrozny rejected the suggestion that he had replaced the money after being 'caught with his hands in the cookie jar', instead claiming he had swapped the original paper notes when they were being phased out for new polymer ones.
But he agreed with his defence barrister's suggestion that each of these cases 'looked a mess' and 'looked fishy'.
Zadrozny studied acting at university before becoming a community centre manager.
He was Britain's youngest council leader when he took charge of Ashfield District Council in 2007 aged 27 and then a Liberal Democrat.
Ms Smith became Britain's youngest female councillor, elected at just 19. She is now deputy leader with Hollis, despite calls for him to stand down due to his criminal convictions.
In 2019 Ms Smith received a court summons for failing to pay her council tax. She said she was 'dead busy' and forgot to pay what she owed.
The court heard Nottinghamshire council grant applications were only 'relatively lightly checked' and 'everyone accepted it was a system based on trust' because the £5,000 funds were 'a drop in the ocean' of the authority's £1billion budget.