Fraudulent details used in $132k wage subsidy applications
24 April 2025.
A man who used fraudulent details in COVID Wage Subsidy applications has been sentenced to home detention.
Jesse Robert Black pleaded guilty to dishonestly using documents to make the applications. He appeared for sentencing in Papakura District Court on 17 April.
He applied under the scheme using his own name and the names of other people who were either fictitious or who had not given him permission to apply on their behalf.
He also used other people's details knowing they were ineligible for the wage subsidy.
The charges relate to dishonestly obtaining a total of $28,118.40 from the Ministry, and attempting to dishonestly obtain a further $104,729.20.
The money was paid into his own bank account, and also into the account of a family member who had no knowledge of the offending.
Mr Black is repaying the debt to the Ministry of Social Development.
Judge Peter Winter sentenced Black to 12 months’ home detention. Black was also sentenced on other offending.
A total of 36 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 $829 million* in wage subsidies has been repaid. For more information about the Wage Subsidy Integrity and Fraud Programme please see here.
*figures as at 31 March, 2025.
