Businessman Sentenced to 12 Years Behind Bars Over $395 Million NDIS Fraud

The businessman pleaded guilty to 2 counts of falsifying documents and 2 counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.

An Australian flag flies at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 27, 2023. Melanie Sun/Susan Mortimer/The Epoch Times

A businessman has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for duping two Korean firms into giving him over tens of millions of dollars as part of a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) charade.

In 2019, Demotrios “James” Charisiou, 63, conned two Korean-based companies into giving his company, LBA Capital, $394.7 million (US$261 million) in credit, under the guise of investing the money into NDIS-supported properties in Melbourne.