A mother-of-four with an IQ of 71 has been sentenced for her role in an elaborate scheme that ripped off the NDIS for $1.1million. 

Angelina Deliciso, 48, was supported by her daughter when she appeared in Sydney‘s District Court in Darlinghurst on Friday after pleading guilty to negligently dealing with the proceeds of crime worth more than $1million.

The court previously heard a psychologist assessed Deliciso’s IQ at 71 because of mental health difficulties and ‘low cognitive function’. The general population average is around 100.

But the court heard she helped launder more than $1million of fraudulently obtained NDIS cash by handing it out in brown paper bags to people she thought were subcontractors at construction sites.

According to court documents, large sums of money filtered into Deliciso’s bank account between July 31 and September 7, 2018, ranging from $29,472 to $304,340, amounting to $1,122,881.13 within the six-week period.

She withdrew the money from 81 ATMs across Sydney and placed them in brown paper bags.

She then handed the bags out her car window to people she thought were construction subcontractors for the building company, King Construction NSW Pty Ltd, which she ran with her estranged younger son Mehdi Hammoud.

At the time, Deliciso was unemployed and was not receiving government benefits.

Deliciso was initially charged with recklessly dealing with the proceeds of crime, but the charge was downgraded to negligence because she was clearly not the mastermind of the operation and apparently had no idea what was going on.

The court heard she was sexually abused and exposed to pornography as a child, and forced to marry a man who beat her.

Years later, her oldest son was placed in juvenile detention after he ‘seriously assaulted her and stomped on her head’, the judge said. 

Deliciso cried audibly as Judge Christopher O’Brien delivered the sentence of an 18-month intensive corrections order, which is a jail sentence served in the community.

Judge O’Brien said Deliciso’s mental health issues, combined with her lack of education and disadvantaged upbringing, meant that she was genuinely negligent of the fact that she was dealing with the proceeds of crime.

The money trail 

According to court documents, Mr Hammoud received $32,155.84 from a registered NDIS provider called Australia Wide Care Pty Ltd into the account held by his business, No Limit Crane Service Pty Ltd, within the same six-week period.

When Deliciso was questioned by NDIA investigators, she suggested they instead ask Mr Hammoud about the payments.

Mr Hammoud has not been charged with any offences.

Court documents said the money was deposited to Deliciso from accounts held by a registered NDIS provider called Australia Wide Care Pty Ltd (AWC).

AWC operated under the name Terrence McKenna, who was listed as the sole director and shareholder, but the NDIA later found that Mr McKenna had no control over the company and his identity had been stolen as part of the elaborate fraud.

AWC made 422 false claims on behalf of disabled participants who never received the disability services outlined in the claims.

Deliciso is not accused of identity theft or making false NDIS claims for AWC.

She didn’t question the deposits from AWC because she thought they were payments from Mr McKenna to King Construction NSW Pty Ltd for the renovation of an Islamic childcare centre.

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) couldn’t find any evidence to suggest King Construction provided building services to AWC.

When investigators asked Deliciso to identify other projects King Construction had worked on, she pointed to a block of flats near her home on the NSW south coast where she left money for workers.

However, the NDIA found construction on the unit block was carried out by a completely different company which had no record of involvement with Deliciso, King Construction, Mr Hammoud or his business No Limit Crane Service.

According to court documents, Deliciso believed King Construction was a legitimate construction business.

She said she looked after payroll and often withdrew cash to pay labourers, including dogmen, riggers, traffic controllers, crane operators and hoist operators until the business closed in 2019.

She said she wasn’t aware of any relationship or payments between King Construction and the NDIS, and she would never knowingly defraud the NDIS.

During sentencing on Friday, Judge O’Brien said Deliciso’s daughter is her primary carer.

‘The offender has a complex history of trauma, depression, bipolar and attention deficit disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, major depressive disorder, and mild intellectual disability,’ he said.

‘Even if I’m not satisfied that her history is linked to offending, her mental deficits are likely to have played a role.’

He said she failed to take responsibility for her actions in her written apology to the court, but she did enter a guilty plea and he was satisfied she was remorseful.

She was convicted and sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, to be served by way of intensive corrections order.

Deliciso was arrested in 2018 after the NDIA found that eight companies were falsely registered as NDIS providers for the purpose of fraud.

Seven of those companies were registered with stolen identities.

Companies including Adventure Care, Fourstar Care, Ambulant Care, Kanesh, Martcorp, Smart Transport, and Rorke submitted a combined 1276 false claims on behalf of participants, valued at $3,807,881.63.

That amount was removed from the participants’ plans, even though they never received the services.

None of the companies provided care service to holders of NDIS participant plans.