$5m cash withdrawn from NDIS housing company before it went bust - ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Investors in a proposed disability housing development in Wollongong have lost millions, with its developer declaring bankruptcy. (Supplied)

Liquidators say a company which raised millions to build housing for people with disabilities went under after $5 million in cash was withdrawn from company accounts.

Dozens of investors put their savings into the Fairy Meadow House project in Wollongong, which raised about $10 million but nothing was ever built.

The liquidators of Fairy Meadow House said they would lodge a report with the financial regulator and have identified potential criminal breaches by the company director.

A Sydney developer who raised millions from investors to build housing for people with disabilities has gone bust amid questions over missing company money, in the latest failure to hit the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) housing program.

Liquidators say $5 million in cash was withdrawn from the company directed by Shaun Mowbray before it went under.

The money was taken out in 10 separate transactions which the liquidators have been unable to verify as legitimate.

Mr Mowbray was declared bankrupt in July, with just $150 in the bank.

Shaun Mowbray has declared bankruptcy after raising millions to build disability housing in Fairy Meadow. (Supplied)

The failure of Fairy Meadow House Pty Ltd, named for the Wollongong suburb where it was supposed to be built, is the latest Supported Disability Accommodation (SDA) scheme to go belly up.

Dozens of investors put a chunk of their life savings into the project before it went into liquidation in May.

Several of them were also caught up in the 2024 collapse of other SDA projects led by two other developers — David McWilliams as well as Aiden Garrison and his partner Will McKellar.

Between Mr McWilliams, Mr Garrison and Mr McKellar, and now Shaun Mowbray, investors have lost more than $120 million.

Mr McWilliams is a Gold Coast developer who came to the attention of authorities after putting $39 million of investor money through the casino and buying lavish sports cars. He is facing criminal charges for misappropriating money.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) continues to investigate Mr Garrison and Mr McKellar.

Gregg Stadhams said he was looking at spending the rest of his life overseas because he could no longer afford to live in Australia.

The retiree and former dentist lost $800,000 in SDA investments, mostly through the three companies.

He said paying rent in Brisbane was now untenable, with the vast bulk of his life savings gone.

Gregg Stadhams says he expected NDIS-related housing schemes to be more tightly regulated. (ABC News: Michael Lloyd)

"If the current economic situation continues to decline, which it appears to be, then within three to five years, living in Australia as a retiree becomes unsustainable," he said.

Mr Stadhams was looking at moving to South-East Asia or Eastern Europe where the cost of living was lower.

He invested $100,000 in Fairy Meadow House in 2022, expecting to receive 10 per cent return on his investment per year before being paid out after four years.

Promotional materials for investors in the Fairy Meadow project. (ABC News: Michael Lloyd)

Mr Stadhams said for about two years, the monthly returns were paid "like clockwork" until they stopped about two years ago.

"Finally we got the letter that [Mr Mowbray is] in liquidation, he's gone bankrupt, and the project itself has gone into liquidation," he said.

The Fairy Meadow development was designed to capitalise on the SDA scheme, where the federal government paid up to $110,000 in rent each year to investors who built speciality housing on behalf of tenants with profound disabilities.

The NDIS-promoted plan, launched in 2016, was intended to get those clients out of group homes and aged care facilities.

However, it has been plagued by difficulties, including investors unable to find tenants, homes being built in the wrong area and developers going bust.

Fairy Meadow House involved investors putting in a lump sum which was paid interest each month while the disability housing was meant to be built, with the initial sum being returned at the end of a fixed term when the development was meant to be leased.

Investors were promised a 10 per cent annual return on their investment in documents outlining the development. (Supplied)

Mr Mowbray raised more than $10 million from 60 investors, but nothing was ever built at the site.

He did not respond to the ABC's attempts to contact him.

Liquidators have discovered more than 10 bank withdrawals from Fairy Meadow House accounts totalling more than $5.28 million were made before the company went under.

Mr Mowbray told liquidators the money was to purchase building materials from Thailand but did not provide documentation to support that.

The liquidators noted such transactions would normally occur through international transfers rather than cash withdrawals.

Despite investors being told in investment documents they would own the land at Fairy Meadow outright, two mortgages were taken out on the property.

The land for the proposed development remains vacant, and has now been sold to pay creditors. (ABC News: Grace Crivellaro)

While the property has now been sold, proceeds were expected to go to both lenders with little left over for investors.

Liquidators said they would lodge a report with ASIC and have identified breaches by Mr Mowbray that could potentially be considered under criminal law.

Mr Stadhams said he believed that a program to build disability housing, promoted by the government, would have been well-regulated.

Gregg Stadhams says he can no longer afford his rent in Brisbane after losing hundreds of thousands of dollars of investments. (ABC News: Michael Lloyd)

"It's the biggest wake-up call in my life in the sense that I've been exposed to what's really going on … in terms of government regulation," he said.

Mr Stadhams and other investors the ABC has spoken to said their letters to the federal government had largely fallen on deaf ears, with little to no response received.

When the ABC asked the NDIS Minister Jenny McAllister whether the government would help investors recoup some of their losses, potentially using government funds, she did not address the question.

"There are unfortunately some people active in the Specialist Disability Accommodation sector that come to mum and dad investors and give them information that just isn't true," Ms McAllister said in a statement.

 "Specialist Disability Accommodation investments are not government-backed," she said.

ASIC would not say whether it was looking into Mr Mowbray, but confirmed its investigations into another SDA developer that went under, Aiden Garrison, were ongoing.

Despite the probe, the ABC can reveal Mr Garrison has been working in property development since his SDA companies lost $36 million of investor funds.

Development Legacy Group, which has just had a 15-unit development approved at Southport on the Gold Coast, has confirmed Garrison has provided services to the company.

However, it said Mr Garrison was no longer engaged by them.