The guilty bushfire fraudsters caught defrauding the NSW Government and charities
From hairdressers, painters, and mums we put a spotlight on the many across NSW who have been caught up taking millions meant for bushfire/Covid relief grants.
Police & Courts
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It was a botched bushfire/Covid-19 business grant scheme by the State Government, costing taxpayers more than $20 million.
It was supposed to help the many badly affected by the horrendous 2019/2020 bushfire season and Covid-19, instead it lined the pockets of many greedy fraudsters across the state.
Charities were also targeted, duped into thinking they were lending a hand to those in need.
The NSW Greens obtained government documents which questioned the validity of many successful grant applications in the $181 million program run by Service NSW, and whether the Federal Government could refuse to reimburse NSW taxpayers.
It included evidence that applications were granted despite failing to tick off even the most basic of requirements, prompting at least two police strike forces and several government departments to query the scheme.
From hairdressers, stay-at-home mums and painters, it’s been one big failed scheme, with many of those charged finding it easy to siphon funds illegally, all done easily online.
While there’s a long list of people across NSW who have been allegedly caught up in the scheme, here’s those who have admitted to fraud, with some already behind bars for their efforts.
TIFFANY-ANNE BRISLANE-BROWN
She was the first person charged in the massive investigation into government fraud, and the first person to be sent to jail.
Hunter woman Tiffany-Anne Brislane-Brown was dished out a two year and nine month sentence, with a non-parole period of 20 months in Toronto drug court in November last year, and ordered to pay back $60,000 in compensation.
Well-known for calling out Newcastle Police for posting a “trailer trash” mugshot of her on Facebook earlier in the year – Brislane-Brown pleaded guilty to six counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception.
She made 24 applications using different bank accounts, emails and phone numbers, claiming she was a business that had been affected by the bushfires.
STEPHEN HANCOCK
A Belmont South man took photos of a family’s bushfire-ravaged property, before the rubble was removed, in an elaborate plan to scam the NSW Government out of $110,000.
Stephen Gregory Hancock targeted a Willawarrin property, north-west of Kempsey, last year after it had been destroyed by a ferocious bushfire in November 2019.
Couple Jamie Zaia and Anita Reeves and their three kids, lost everything in the blaze that ripped through their small town, only to then find out they had unwittingly become the victims of a bushfire scam.
Hancock pleaded guilty to three counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, one charge of attempting to do so and another charge of knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.
MORGAN SHOTTON
A stint in rehab helped a Charlestown hairdresser avoid jail time after she was caught collecting $20,000 in bushfire grant money she was never entitled to.
Between March and August last year, Morgan Lea Shotton, who lives at Kahibah near Newcastle, applied for six grants from Service NSW and had $20,00 deposited into her bank account.
The 28-year-old falsely claimed she ran businesses on the Mid-North Coast at locations including Bellingen, Port Macquarie and Possum Brush.
Four applications were rejected after authorities became suspicious and the same email was used to apply for the cash.
In January, Shotton pleaded guilty to six fraud charges and eventually sentenced to a 14-month intensive corrections order and ordered to pay back $20,000.
A court heard Shotton’s life hit “rock bottom” when she was caught out and that she was addicted to meth and owned a significant amount of money following a failed hairdressing business.
MASON WEBB
A court heard a Kahibah man was “clouded by drugs” when he made the decision to fraudulently claim tens of thousands of dollars from the NSW Government.
Mason Thomas Webb, 28, pleaded guilty to claiming $60,000 from Service NSW for bushfire relief funds, and attempting to access another $20,000 in emergency payments he wasn’t entitled to.
In May, Webb’s solicitor Matthew Unwin said it was a “fairly unsophisticated offence” and was “just too easy” for his client to obtain the money, with his judgment marred by “significant drug use”.
Webb was sentenced to 12 months jail with a non-parole period of nine months, and ordered $60,000 be paid back to Service NSW in compensation.
ELLEN HOWARD
‘Girl next door’ Ellen Howard, from Aberdare, was no stranger to the NSW justice system when she was caught out for stealing thousands from Service NSW.
The 32-year-old seasoned fraudster was on an intensive corrections order for similar offences, and in May pleaded guilty to 21 fraud charges.
Howard, while unemployed and on Centrelink benefits, scammed bushfire, Covid-19 relief payments over a seven month period last year, which netted her more than $111,000. She attempted to steal more than $270,000 more but was refused.
She lied to Service NSW and said her home burnt down in late 2019 fires, and Howard posed as the owner of a number of businesses, from a Nabiac nursery, Taree cafe, and agricultural business.
She claimed to be a worker affected during Victoria’s lengthy lockdown, applying for over 20 $450 support payments, and also targeted charity St Vincent De Paul and Business Tasmania.
ADAM GRANATO
A Gateshead man who used pictures of a Mid-North Coast home destroyed by bushfire to try to defraud the NSW Government of $50,000 pleaded guilty to one count of dishonestly obtaining financial benefit by deception.
Adam Paul Granato, 39, had applied online in July last year for the Small Business Bushfire Recovery Grant, claiming his business Hunter Valley Concreting had been affected by the November 2019 fires.
The swindle began to unravel when he was questioned by officers at Belmont Police Station about unrelated alleged drug offences, a week after he made the application.
Police confirmed seven pictures used in Granato’s application and found on his phone were of an Old Bar home destroyed by fire, but were suspicious over his connection to the property.
Confronted with this information four days later, Granato’s story changed and that he did contact Service NSW to cancel the claim, but was charged over the application anyway.
Granato will be sentenced in September.
CAMERON STEWART
Kempsey man Cameron Stewart befriended vulnerable men and women to defraud the Australian welfare system, and falsified documents with not-for-profit charities to steal tens of thousands of dollars reserved for bushfire relief victims.
Police facts detailed how the 23-year-old went to extraordinary lengths to obtain about $35,000 in stolen money from November last year, his victims including the Salvation Army, Anglicare and Red Cross charities.
He pleaded guilty to five counts of dishonestly obtain property by deception, four counts of obtain a financial advantage by deception and two counts of deal in identification information and use it to commit fraud.
Police became suspicious when they observed photographic evidence of fire-related damage to his property at Nambucca Heads on his phone, and that it was being used to falsify documents for bushfire relief claims, because that area was never within last year’s devastating Mid-North-Coast fire zone.
DAMIAN BURNS
A North Haven man who posed as a painter to defraud the government’s bushfire grants scheme was ordered to pay back the $20,000 he took, given a 12 month community corrections order (CCO) and will have to complete 80 hours of community service.
Damian Stanley Burns, pleaded guilty to two counts of dishonestly obtaining advantage or causing disadvantage by deception.
The court heard Burns, who is unemployed, accessed the Service NSW website in March 2020 where he provided his name, email, phone number and a false business ABN which was purported to be connected with a painting business he ran out of Thrumster, near Port Macquarie.
He then completed a second application two hours later with the same details. Both applications, for $10,000, were approved and deposited into his account in April.
EMMALEE TAYLOR
The Edgeworth mother, with a history of committing fraud, was lucky to escape jail time after concocting a story about a cleaning business to illegally claim a $10,000 bushfire support grant.
Emmalee Taylor, 29, pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtaining financial benefit by deception, with court documents revealing she had used her real name, email address and bank account to illegally apply for the grants.
She made the application in April last year, claiming to run a cleaning business on the Mid-North Coast that had been affected by the Black Summer bushfires, which it had not.
When sentenced in May, the court heard the single mum-of-two had battled drug addiction and experienced homelessness, which was a driver in her committing the fraud, and that her judgment had been clouded by “the circumstance she found herself in”.
Taylor was sentenced to a 12-month intensive corrections order and was ordered to complete 200 hours of community service.
SCOTT SULLIVAN
This south coast drug dealer defrauded three charities to the tune of $24,000 during the summer bushfire emergency.
Scott Anthony Bruce Sullivan, 45, of Moruya pleaded guilty to three counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and four counts of supplying a small amount of a prohibited drug in October last year.
A court heard he had used the money to pay for a room at the Batemans Bay Marina Resort, where he was dealing meth.
Sullivan received $20,000 from Red Cross Australia after visiting the Batemans Bay recovery centre claiming his caravan, parked somewhere on private property at Mogo, and all its contents had been completely destroyed by the Clyde Mountain bushfire on New Year’s Eve.
One week later Sullivan returned to the recovery centre where he told the same story to the Salvation Army and received $3000, before receiving another $1,000 from charity St Vincent De Paul.
Sullivan’s original sentence was reduced on appeal from 30 months to 24 months, with a non-parole period of 12 months.
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