A woman has admitted to her involvement in a COVID-19 scam after she helped defraud more than $10,000 in business support grants during the pandemic - with about half the funds spent on shopping.
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Bella Gill, aged 21 of Dulwich Hill, fronted Wollongong Local Court on January 4 after she dodged a court date at Newtown. Registrar Tina McKenna granted bail and ordered Gill live at a relative's Berkeley address.
On Tuesday, January 10, Gill's matter was back before court, with her lawyer Emel Ozer entering guilty pleas on her behalf to dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception, participating in a criminal group and contributing to criminal activity, and failing to appear in accordance with a bail acknowledgement.
Documents tendered to the court revealed Gill was arrested last year after Strike Force Sainsbery was established to investigate fraudulent grant applications made to Service NSW when COVID-19 support payments were made available during 2020 and 2021.
Investigators identified about 40 co-accused were embroiled in the alleged syndicate, which made fraudulent applications using stolen or borrowed identification details.
The alleged ringleader of the group, Ibrahim Hawat, was arrested last year. He is yet to enter pleas to his charges.
Gill was exposed as one of the key players in the group, using her bank account as the nominated account for the Service NSW payments to be deposited.
After the funds were deposited, she would immediately transfer the money into personal accounts or those held in her associate's names before withdrawing the money from banks or ATMs.
"Without her actions, the syndicate would not have been able to obtain the money from Service NSW," court documents stated.
Between September and October 2021, a total of 40 applications for micro-business COVID-19 support grants were made in a borrowed name.
Police busted Gill when one of the 40 payments listed her bank account.
On October 7, 2021, Service NSW deposited $10,500 into Gill's account, with $6360 transferred in small amounts to an associate and her defacto partner.
The rest was spent on shopping, she admitted to police when arrested in April last year.
In court, Ms Ozer said Gill has no prior criminal history and she accepts the charges are "quite serious".
The matter was adjourned to February 21.
Read more Illawarra court and crime stories here.
Grace Crivellaro
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
