A Sydney NDIS provider with alleged links to organised crime has been accused of defrauding the scheme by making $1.5 million worth of claims for services he never provided.
The 33-year-old was arrested at a construction site in the suburb of Tahmoor on Thursday while wearing a hi-vis hoodie and work boots, and was charged with 22 counts of obtaining a financial advantage by deception, and 10 counts of attempting to obtain a financial advantage by deception.
The NDIS’s Fraud Fusion Taskforce (FFT) said the man first came to their attention in January 2024, after investigators suspected he was fraudulently making claims as a registered NDIS provider.
In June of the same year FFT investigators searched an apartment in Bankstown, and allegedly found evidence linking the man to 80 claims submitted against 22 unknowing NDIS participants between 17 January and 30 March 2024. Then in August he was banned from the NDIS for two years.
Investigators allege the man, who they said is “suspected to be associated with serious organised criminal groups”, claimed more than $1.5 million for services not provided.
In February this year the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) successfully obtained an arrest warrant, and the Australian Federal Police began an operation to track him down and arrest him.
He now faces a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment if found guilty.
A NDIA spokesperson said anyone who attempted to defraud the controversial $50 billion scheme, which is now being overhauled by the government, would be brought to justice.
“Through a strong, national, multi-agency response, we are disrupting alleged organised crime links attempting to profit from the NDIS,” they said.
“We work relentlessly with our Fraud Fusion Taskforce partners in pursuit of criminals to protect participants and the integrity of this world-first Scheme.”
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner Louise Glanville said: “Those who deliberately engage in fraudulent behaviour should be on notice that they will be detected. In this case we have already banned the individual and removed him from the NDIS.”
Bankstown, where the man’s apartment was located, is in Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s seat of Watson – one of the top ten worst electorates in Australia for NDIS fraud.
Header image: The man being arrested (FFT).
