Angelina Deliciso pleads guilty to negligently dealing with proceeds of crime worth more than $1m in Nowra District Court

The barrister for a NSW woman caught in a scheme to defraud the NDIS told a court she had a low IQ, and she handed out brown paper bags with cash amounting to more than $1 million.

Anglina Deliciso, left, pleaded guilty to negligently dealing with the proceeds of crime worth more than $1m.. Picture: Simon Bullard

EXCLUSIVE: A woman who landed in the middle of an elaborate scheme to defraud the NDIS told a court she handed $1.1 million in cash-filled brown paper bags to people she believed were subcontractors.

Angelina Deliciso, 48, was supported by her daughter and a family friend when she appeared in Nowra District Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to negligently dealing with the proceeds of crime worth more than $1m.

According to court documents, Deliciso was sole director and shareholder of King Construction NSW Pty Ltd when 12 deposits ranging from $29,472 to $304,340 landed in her bank account between July 31 and September 7, 2018.

She ran the business with her son, Mehdi Hammoud, who also ran a business called No Limit Crane Service Pty Ltd.

The deposits amounted to $1,122,881.13 and came from accounts held by Australia Wide Care Pty Ltd (AWC) – a registered NDIS provider operating under the name Terrence McKenna, who was listed as the sole director and shareholder.

Angelina Deliciso, 48, was supported by her daughter and a family friend when she appeared in Nowra District Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to negligently dealing with the proceeds of crime worth more than $1m. Picture: Simon Bullard

Upon investigation, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) found that Mr McKenna had no control over AWC. His identity had been stolen for the purpose of defrauding the NDIS by making 422 false claims on behalf of disabled participants.

Deliciso is not accused of having any involvement in these offences.

Deliciso did not verify whether King Construction rendered any services to clients. Instead, she withdrew the cash in 81 transactions, ranging from $310 to $50,000, from different ATMs across Sydney.

According to court documents, she told NDIA investigators she thought the payments from Mr McKenna, who she didn’t know, and AWC were filtering into her King Construction account due to renovations of an Islamic childcare centre by subcontractors.

NDIA investigators couldn’t find any evidence to suggest King Construction provided building services to AWC.

When investigators asked Deliciso to identify other projects King Construction had worked on, she pointed to a block of flats near her house where she dropped money off for workers.

NDIA investigations revealed building work on the unit block was carried out by a different company which had no record of involvement with Deliciso, King Construction, Mr Hammoud or his business No Limit Crane Service.

During sentencing submissions on Thursday, Deliciso’s barrister Troy Edwards SC told the court a psychologist assessed his client’s IQ at 71, and found she had low cognitive function and mental health difficulties that impair her judgment.

Money launderer Anglina Deliciso, left, pleads guilty to charges related to an NDIS $1m fraud scheme. Picture: Simon Bullard

Judge Chris O’Brien asked: “There’s no evidence about where the money went?”

Mr Edwards replied: “She provides explanation of that to the psychologist, $7000 went into her bank account.”

Justice O’Brien said: “That still leaves $1,115,881.”

Mr Edwards told the court Deliciso spent $7000, and the remaining amount was placed in “brown paper bags [and handed] out the window of her car for the business her son was involved in”.

There are no charges against Mr Hammoud.

Court documents say that Deliciso told NDIA investigators she thought King Construction was a legitimate construction business.

She said she looked after payroll and often withdrew cash to pay labourers, including dogmen, riggers, traffic controllers, crane operators and hoist operators.

She said she wasn’t aware of any relationship or payments between King Construction and the NDIS, and she would never knowingly defraud the NDIS.

Deliciso was arrested in 2018 after the NDIA found that eight companies – seven of which were registered with stolen identities – were falsely registered as NDIS providers for the purpose of fraud.

In court on Thursday, Mr Edwards cited a similar case where the defendant knowingly committed fraud and was given a longer jail term as a general deterrence.

He made the submission that Deliciso’s case should not be used as a deterrent because she accepted responsibility for her negligence, but did not knowingly deal with the proceeds of crime.

Mr Edwards said she would be vulnerable in jail due to her mental health conditions, and urged the judge to consider sentencing by way of community corrections order, a mental health plan to reduce risk of reoffending, and a drug and alcohol abstinence condition.

Deliciso, who had a history of alcohol abuse, said she didn’t want to use illicit drugs and would comply with those conditions, if imposed.

The Crown agreed with the submission that jail time would not be appropriate.

Deliciso was arrested in 2018 after the NDIA found that eight companies – seven of which were registered with stolen identities – were falsely registered as NDIS providers for the purpose of fraud.

Additional companies identified include Adventure Care, Fourstar Care, Ambulant Care, Kanesh, Martcorp, Smart Transport, and Rorke – which submitted a combined 1276 false claims, valued at $3,807,881.63.

None of the companies provided care service to holders of NDIS participant plans.

Justice O’Brien will deliver his sentence on November 28.

Originally published as Angelina Deliciso pleads guilty to negligently dealing with proceeds of crime worth more than $1m in Nowra District Court