Allegations revealed in Minister Bronnie Taylor’s former adviser Katia Pearsall‘s alleged fraud

A woman, when employed as a senior adviser to Mental Health Minister Bronnie Taylor, allegedly used her colleague's credit card to pay for Uber trips and food.

Katia Persall, a senior policy adviser to Mental Health Minister Bronnie Taylor, has pleaded not guilty to a credit card fraud. Picture: Facebook

New allegations can be revealed about a woman’s alleged fraud when working as a senior adviser for NSW Mental Health Minister Bronnie Taylor, allegedly using a colleague's credit card to pay for food and car trips.

Katia Pearsall, 26, has pleaded not guilty to a charge dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.

The Marsfield resident is due to defend the allegations at Sutherland Local Court on August 8 next year.

Documents seen by The Standard said the woman had an Uber account prior to January 2020 which was linked to her credit card.

Police allege Pearsall’s Uber account had the woman’s credit card details linked to her account before April 25, 2021.

Katia Pearsall, 26, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.

It is alleged Pearsall made 63 purchases totalling $1709.77, from April 23 to October 4, 2021 with purchases and trips occurring every couple of days.

Police allege most of the Uber car charges ranged between $10 and $45, with two occasions the trip costing $50 and on one occasion there was a $70 charge.

Pearsall pleaded not guilty to the charge and is due to defend the allegations at a hearing in Sutherland Local Court next year.

Purchases were also allegedly made using Uber Eats from Crust Pizza, Oporto, Guzman y Gomez and other Italian, Indian and Thai restaurants across Sydney.

The Standard understands on October 12, the woman looked at her bank app and saw a pending charge from Uber which she had allegedly not used since 2020 due to Covid-19 lockdowns.

She then attended Riverwood Police Station to report the alleged fraud.

The Standard understands police contacted Uber, which provided the name ‘Katia’ as a person who had used the woman’s credit card.

Police inquiries with Uber allegedly revealed there were two accounts which had purchases under the woman’s credit card.

One account belonged to the woman and the other was allegedly used by Pearsall.

Police allege the GPS coordinates of many of the Uber trips were allegedly to or from Pearsall’s previous home in Wolli Creek.

Police will allege in court the woman knowingly added the woman’s credit card details to the Uber account.

A spokesman for Ms Taylor confirmed Pearsall no longer worked as a senior advisor for the Mental Health Minister.