NDIS: TikTok influencer posts financial advice, as Cocoon SDA Care under investigation
A self-proclaimed business expert who has thousands of followers on TikTok is behind an NDIS business which has allegedly not paid some of its staff for four weeks.
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EXCLUSIVE: A co-founder of an NDIS provider which is under federal investigation and allegedly hasn’t paid some of its staff for four weeks, is a self-proclaimed financial influencer who posts advice on how to make money on TikTok.
Former taxi driver and ex bankrupt, Zaffar Khan, who is the corporate strategist for Cocoon SDA Care, has 43,000 followers on TikTok, where he gives advice on how to become successful in business.
In one video posted on Saturday – after this masthead revealed the company was being investigated by the Fraud Fusion Taskforce – Mr Khan, spoke about bad times in the past, when he was forced to eat “the leaves of trees for three days”.
He then said that there was no way he would “do anything unethical, anything illegal, anything wrongdoing at all here in my life”.
In another post he recommended people spend 90 per cent of their time, six days a week, working on how to bring more money into the business.
On his website, Mr Khan admitted “confidence and complacency” had resulted “in mistakes and then bankruptcy” while operating a taxi firm in New Zealand.
He said he had to borrow money to fly back to Sydney, where he started a new venture in the medical industry, offering a remote doctor service, before expanding into the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Mr Khan has been approached for comment on the allegations.
Last week this masthead revealed how some support workers in Victoria, South Australia and Queensland claimed they had not been paid by Cocoon SDA for four weeks, forcing some to go to food banks to survive.
One casual worker said she had not been paid since April 1 and was currently owed $5500.
She said her partner was working a second job to help and their 17-year-old had got a job, but they were behind on the mortgage.
She claimed Cocoon SDA Care’s deadlines for paying kept coming and going, but she had continued working because she “felt bad for the clients”.
Cocoon SDA Care, which claims it is on the Australian Financial Review’s list of best places to work, is a registered NDIS provider which offers accommodation as well as support workers for people with a disability. Its website says it has 600 specialist disability homes across the country and more than 2400 staff.
On Friday Horizon SolSolutions Australia Pty Ltd, trading as Cocoon SDA Care, blamed the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) for delaying payments, meaning they couldn’t pay staff.
It said it had “commenced proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia” over delayed payments “owed for the delivery of essential NDIS services”.
“Cocoon SDA Care has formally advised the NDIA that these delays are causing serious and ongoing impacts not only to the organisation but also to third parties, including vulnerable participants and staff,” it said in a statement.
“Given the urgency of the matter, Cocoon SDA Care has requested that the Court consider the case on an expedited basis. The matter is scheduled to be heard by the Federal Court next week.
“As this matter is now before the Court, Cocoon SDA Care will not be making further public comment at this stage.”
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Originally published as NDIS: TikTok influencer posts financial advice, as Cocoon SDA Care under investigation
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