Imprisonment for major Wage Subsidy fraud

Bradley Croft, 42, of Kilbirnie in Wellington was sentenced in Wellington District Court after earlier pleading guilty to four dishonesty charges. He was also sentenced on a number of other charges.

In total, Croft applied for over $146,000 using fraudulent applications. Most of the claims made used names of people who were not eligible and he did not have their permission to apply on their behalf.

There was also evidence he had discussed applying for these subsidies with others.

Three of the charges of dishonest use of a document covered wage subsidy applications which resulted in $12,916 being deposited into his bank accounts.

A representative charge covered another 36 applications totalling $133,931.60 which were declined.

A total of 49 people have been sentenced in wage subsidy cases, and another 53 people are still before the courts as part of MSD’s programme of work on wage subsidy fraud and integrity. Since the scheme started, more than $830 million* in wage subsidies has been repaid. For more information about the Wage Subsidy Integrity and Fraud Programme please see here. 

*Figures as at 19 September 2025