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The alleged mastermind behind what police have called a fake sex abuse claims scheme worth more than $1 billion has been identified, with late TikTok star Russell Manser also linked to the investigation.
A strike force was established in February last year to investigate alleged fraudulent compensation claims for historic sexual abuse brought against the NSW Department of Communities and Justice and the NSW Department of Education.
Investigators believe they identified "claims farmers" who are alleged to have approached adults who were former young offenders, inmates, and school students, to encourage them to file fake claims for historic child sex abuse.
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The same alleged "claims farmers" are then alleged to have coached the claimants on how to pursue those claims through various Sydney law firms, allegedly receiving a benefit for each referral.
NSW Police Detective Superintendent Gordon Arbinja said "claims farmers" would receive at least $2200 per claim submitted through a law firm.
"There were several claims farmers that were spruiking for business they coached and incited several people to make false claims through these entities," Arbinja alleged.
"This group held another 100 applications so police intervention yesterday prevented at least $30 million being paid."
Police say the proceeds were referred to as "bum money" within the group, and investigators allege a "significant portion" of $1.3 billion worth of claims are fake.
"I believe using my core sample, a significant majority were fraudulent, this core sample is just the tip of the iceberg, we've got a very, very big problem here," Arbinja said.
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Arbinja said that while the claims farmers have been the focus of this investigation, police would also look into the claimees as well.
"At the Department of Communities and Justice, one-third of inmates at the Cooma Correctional Centre have submitted claims which I'm going to investigate," he said.
"They rehearsed what to say in the application and a lot of them were strikingly similar to each other, I have evidence that says they were actually coached and they were never sexually abused in the first place."
Nearly 4000 claims had been submitted to the NSW government as part of the alleged scheme.
While the system has been allegedly exploited, Arbinja said the scheme would still support legitimate victims.
"The NSW Police support legitimate victims they should be compensated and that's why the system was introduced in the first place, but the system is poor, it needs to be strengthened," he said.
At about 6.05am yesterday, police carried out a search warrant in Girraween, Sydney, where they arrested 55-year-old Fotis Antonios, the alleged boss of the syndicate.
He was charged with 21 fraud-related offences and refused bail to appear in court today.
Police will allege he was one of the supposed "claims farmers".
Throughout yesterday, police arrested a further six people, including a 53-year-old woman, a 32-year-old man, a 42-year-old man, a 52-year-old woman, a 35-year-old woman, and a 23-year-old man.
Ky Manser, 23, was arrested on the Gold Coast, while the other five were all in Sydney.
Police were also investigating his father Russell Manser, who was a former bank robber turned advocate for survivors of institutional sex abuse and TikTok star.
Russell Manser died last year, allegedly leaving the Gold Coast arm of the business to son Ky.
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They were all charged with publishing false material to obtain advantage.
Investigators also carried out a search warrant at a Sydney law firm.
Police will allege in court the seven charged stood to make $3.75 million in fake sex abuse compensation claims, but that the claims had not yet been paid out.
The investigation continues, with police saying more arrests are expected.
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