The AFP has charged an Adelaide man over an alleged multi-million-dollar dishonesty plot against the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
The Adelaide man, 38, a director of a registered NDIS provider, was preparing to leave the country when he was arrested by the AFP yesterday (14 August, 2025) at Adelaide Airport. He was taken to The Adelaide City Watchhouse and charged with dealing with the proceeds of crime and soliciting protected NDIS participant information from a National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) staff member.
The man was remanded in custody and is expected to face Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday, 17 August, 2026.
An investigation by the Australian Government Fraud Fusion Taskforce (FFT) - comprising the AFP, NDIA, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) and NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission - began in March, 2026, after the NDIA identified unauthorised access to protected records of NDIS participants.
FFT investigators executed search warrants on 10 June, 2026 at homes in the Adelaide suburbs of Mawson Lakes and Blakeview, and at a business at Prospect. Investigators located and seized several electronic devices for forensic examination.
An Adelaide woman, 48, was the first person to be charged after the FFT investigation alleged she used her position as a NDIA employee to access more than 40 NDIS participant records. It is alleged the woman then unlawfully provided the NDIS participant records to a local NDIS provider owned by the man for financial benefit.
It is further alleged the woman received more than $53,000 from the local NDIA provider as part of a total alleged $5 million plot. She was charged on 10 June, 2026 and is scheduled to next appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on 20 August, 2026.
Further FFT investigations revealed the man, 38, allegedly used the protected NDIS participant information received from the woman to make thousands of NDIS funding claims, totalling about $5 million.
The man was charged with:
- One count of dealing with the proceeds of crime, fraudulently claimed from the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which is a Commonwealth entity, contrary to section 400.3(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth). This offence carries a maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment; and
- One count of soliciting protected agency information from staff of the National Disability Insurance Agency, contrary to section 63 of the NDIS Act (2013). This offence carries a maximum penalty of two years' imprisonment.
AFP Detective Acting Inspector Aaron Mills said the Fraud Fusion Taskforce continued to be relentless in its pursuit of those who sought to profit from Commonwealth payments designed to assist Australia's most vulnerable communities.
"The dedication and collective efforts of the Fraud Fusion Taskforce are vital to detect and stop those who attempt to rip off public funds," Det a/Insp Mills said.
"We will continue to identify, investigate, and bring before the courts anyone who attempts to engage in this type of unlawful activity and flout, or attempt to evade, the law."
A NDIA spokesperson said the arrest of a second person by the Fraud Fusion Taskforce demonstrated people who exploited the NDIS could expect to end up before the courts.
"Elite intelligence across law enforcement bodies and government agencies is detecting and disrupting bad actors," the spokesperson said.
"Our strengthened integrity systems and multi-agency efforts are closing opportunities for exploitation and protecting the NDIS and the participants who rely on it for support."
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner Louise Glanville said the exploitation of NDIS funds would not be tolerated.
"Providers who seek to misuse NDIS funding undermine trust in the disability support system and put the integrity of the Scheme at risk," Commissioner Glanville said.
"We will continue to use the full range of our compliance and enforcement powers to protect people with disability from harm and safeguard the integrity of the Scheme.
"The NDIS Commission will continue to work closely with our partners to detect, investigate and take strong enforcement action against those who seek to profit from fraudulent conduct."
The FFT is a multi-agency taskforce comprising 25 agencies, co-led by the NDIA and Services Australia, and also including the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (NDIS Commission), the ACIC and the AFP. It focuses on high-risk and serious criminal activity targeting government programs designed to help those most in need.
