Melbourne man Demetrios “James” Charisiou, 60, accused of orchestrating a $395 million fraud involving fake NDIS-related property deals, appeared in court on Friday.
He attended a short administrative hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates court via video to face five counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception. He made no comment during the hearing beyond confirming his details and that he understood the charges which involve two Korean investment houses he attempted to dupe into investing in the NDIS-related deals. JB Asset management and KB Securities first took civil action in the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2019 to recoup the money they had poured into Mr Charisiou’s LBA Capital for investment in NDIS-supported property, and the case had been broken at the time by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Victoria Police detectives allege Mr Charisiou used fake documents showing his group as having agreements with developers Lendlease and CBUS Property.
The Korean companies allege that LBA’s representatives had presented them with fake letters of endorsement by Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson, and had business cards and other material indicating they were official NDIS representatives.
Mr Charisiou is being accused by police of using fake letters on letterhead of national law firm Mills Oakley as well as fake insurance contracts with QBE which he used to induce the Korean groups into investing.
Mr Charisiou will front court again on 18 June for another hearing.
