Matthew Guy and Tony Madafferi first crossed paths in 2013 when Guy, the then Planning Minister in the Liberal Party government, was a special guest at a fund-raising event in Docklands at a venue Madafferi co-owned. Guy claimed to have had no knowledge Madafferi was at or hosting the event. Senior Labor politician Luke Donnellan accused the Liberals in the Victorian parliament of taking "blood money… stained with misery and crime". In August 2017, media outlets reported that Guy attended a dinner with Tony Madafferi, owner of the La Porchetta pizza chain, who has been accused in court by police of being a high-ranking member of Melbourne's Calabrian Mafia. Guy's office confirmed his attendance, but denied the meeting was secret or that Guy was aware of Madafferi's presence until he arrived, although secretly recorded phone conversations appeared to contradict these statements. According to the recordings and other sources, the meeting was allegedly organised to be for the purpose of raising funds for Guy in his role as Leader of the Opposition. A day later, Guy had referred himself to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC), saying he was confident he would be cleared of any wrongdoing, but IBAC said it did not have the power to investigate.