Multiple identities used in 78k wage subsidy fraud

Simon Ioane previously pled guilty to two representative charges of dishonestly using a document when he submitted 14 wage subsidy applications in total.

Nine fraudulent applications resulted in Ioane obtaining $60,436.80, while a further three fraudulent applications seeking $18,259.20 were declined. Two applications were legitimate.

Ioane’s applications were made up of 12 sole trader applications, one under his own name and 11 under different names, and two employer applications through a business he controlled.

None of the individuals named in the fraudulent applications were aware their details had been used, and none received the wage subsidy payments.

The same contact details were used across all the applications, and all payments were directed into accounts under Ioane’s control.

In addition to the sole trader applications, Ioane submitted an employer application listing an employee who was no longer working for the business.

Bank records showed that once payments were received, Ioane rapidly transferred funds between accounts he controlled and spent significant amounts on personal expenses, including online gambling.

District Court Judge Kirsten Lummis declined Ioane’s application for a discharge without conviction. His community detention sentence includes a nightly curfew, while his intensive supervision is subject to treatment and programme conditions.

Judge Lummis noted that community detention would make it easier for Mr Ioane to repay the amount he had borrowed to pay reparation to MSD.

A total of 73 people have been sentenced in wage subsidy cases, and another 36 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 $837 million* in wage subsidies has been repaid.

For more information about the Wage Subsidy Integrity and Fraud Programme please see here.

*Figures at 30 June 2026