Real estate agent Sabrina Loschiavo charged over alleged Covid fraud and drug lab scheme
A glamorous mother-of-two is among three real estate agents charged over an alleged Covid benefits fraud scheme and drug lab syndicate.
NSW
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A glamorous mother-of-two is among three real estate agents charged over involvement in an alleged Covid benefits fraud scheme and drug lab syndicate.
Sabrina Loschiavo, 37, was arrested at Fairfield Police Station on Wednesday and charged with eight offences including participating in a criminal group, dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and using a false document to obtain financial advantage.
Loschiavo - along with co-accused Nasser Kalache and Antonio Fedele - worked at RW Partners real estate in Fairfield and was allegedly involved in a scheme that used names of unsuspecting members of the public to pocket over $100,000 in Covid rent relief payments for homes they were actually using as drug labs.
At the height of the Delta pandemic between July and August last year, police shutdown a number of major hydroponic cannabis labs in homes around Fairfield, while also seizing an estimated $2 million worth of the drug.
But investigators soon linked the properties to what they allege is a criminal syndicate that profited from not only selling cannabis, but also fraudulently obtained Covid hardship benefits from the NSW government.
On Wednesday officers swooped on six people including the alleged ringleader and real estate agent Kalache, 52, who they charged with 10 offences including knowingly direct the activities of a criminal group, cultivate prohibited plants and use false document to obtain financial advantage.
“We will be alleging these people used their position as trusted insiders in the real estate industry to defraud their own clientele and public money meant for those who need it most,” Fairfield Crime Manager Detective Inspector Luke Scott said.
“The properties that were allegedly utilised by this syndicate to grow cannabis were subleased to members of the public who had no idea their name was on the lease agreement, as was the case when it came to the fraudulently obtained rental relief and bond payments.
“The nature of this fraud is particularly scandalous and predatory; the community won’t tolerate it, and those involved now have our court system to answer to.”
Police allege the syndicate made large-scale applications under the Residential Tenancy Support scheme.
Just moments after Kalache’s arrest, Claudyous Isaac, 44, was picked up by police at a home in Bonnyrigg.
He, along with Muhammad Al-Nasiri, 35, and Habeb Tomka, 23, are alleged by police to have been involved in the cultivating of cannabis, and were each charged with offences including participating in a criminal group.
Losciano, along with Kalache and Fedele, and the three other men, are due to face Fairfield Local Court on Thursday.
Originally published as Real estate agent Sabrina Loschiavo charged over alleged Covid fraud and drug lab scheme
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