Fraud syndicate siphoned millions from disability scheme: Final member jailed in Australia
A 37-year-old man has been sentenced to four years in prison for his role in a multimillion-dollar fraud targeting Australia’s disability support and taxation systems, Qazinform News Agency reports.
The Chester Hill resident was found guilty of fraud and dealing with proceeds of crime in December 2025. Parramatta District Court sentenced him on September 7 to four years in prison and ordered him to repay A$30,675 to the Commonwealth. He will be eligible for parole after serving two years and four months.
His sentencing brings Operation Pegasus to a close. The investigation uncovered a syndicate that used three companies to siphon millions of dollars from Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme through false claims, while also seeking fraudulent tax refunds.
The six people implicated in the scheme, five men and one woman, have now received combined prison sentences totaling 31 years and four months.
The arrests followed a coordinated operation across Sydney in April 2021 involving the Australian Federal Police and several government agencies. Searches conducted at the time uncovered more than A$2 million in suspected criminal assets.
As investigators followed the money, the scale of the syndicate’s wealth became clearer. In 2022, authorities secured restraining orders over assets worth more than A$6 million, including bank accounts, cryptocurrency, luxury cars, gold, watches and jewelry.
In November 2025, gold bullion, cash, jewelry, watches and two luxury vehicles with a combined value of about A$1 million were forfeited to the Commonwealth. Proceedings to recover other suspected proceeds of crime are continuing.
AFP Detective Superintendent Peter Fogarty said the case demonstrated that authorities would continue pursuing criminals regardless of how long an investigation took.
“Criminal activity which seeks to exploit systems that support the community’s most vulnerable is an affront to hard-working Australians who are doing the right thing,” he said.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that a Kazakhstani couple had been charged in Australia for allegedly using concealed electronic devices to fraudulently win more than A$1.17 million at a Sydney casino.