Businessman jailed over 'breathtaking' $395m NDIS fraud
A judge has jailed a businessman over a "breathtaking" National Disability Insurance Scheme fraud that conned international investors into handing over tens of millions of dollars.
Demetrios "James" Charisiou was jailed for up to 12 years on Friday after he duped two Korean-based firms into giving his company LBA Capital almost $395 million in credit under the guise of investing in NDIS-supported properties in Melbourne.
None of the properties were purchased and most of the money sat in accounts, however the 63-year-old man used some of the money to pay off his mortgages.
The 2019 ruse was sophisticated and complex, with Charisiou faking documents to get the money, Justice John Champion told the Supreme Court on Friday.
Charisiou also met with representatives from the companies - JB Asset Management and KB Securities - when they flew out to Melbourne, the judge said.
As a successful businessman with an inflated sense of ego, backing out of the NDIS deal with investors was not an attractive prospect for Charisiou, Justice Champion said.
The former KPMG adviser lost his career, reputation and the prestige that came with his previous success, the judge said.
"To your own folly, you have lost much that underpinned your way of life," Justice Champion told Charisiou.
"The scale of your fraudulent activity was breathtaking, however must be kept in perspective."
Charisiou was the director of Living Bright Australia.
About $38 million of the almost $395 million was the subject of charges against him, relating to two properties as prosecutors failed to prove Charisiou's deception was behind later transactions.
Charisiou pleaded guilty to two counts of using false documents and two counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
Defence lawyers had described his scheme as "hare-brained" but Justice Champion rejected this and said while Charisiou's Bipolar II disorder was connected to his offending, he knew what he was doing was wrong.
He said Charisiou's offending was "hugely successful" and he would have been incapable of such a complex scheme if his thought process was irrational and senseless.
"The victim companies were taken advantage of and misled. The documents that they were presented with looked legitimate," Justice Champion said.
"You kept up the charade for months."
Charisiou told a psychiatrist it was his intention to eventually give investors a return, but the judge said: "I consider it more likely you wanted to keep up the ruse for as long as possible."
Justice Champion said, while Charisiou was unlikely to reoffend, there was a risk he remained driven by his ego and "illusions of grandiosity".
Charisiou has paid back most of the $395 million but $6 million had been be left unaccounted for, the judge said.
He sentenced Charisiou to 12 years in jail, with a non-parole period of eight years.
The 63-year-old has already spent more than 190 days behind bars.
