Truck driver fined $85K for workers compensation fraud

A Victorian truck driver has been convicted, ordered to pay $73,062 and fined a further $10,000 for continuing to claim injury compensation payments while working for multiple transport companies. Simon Stott, 57, pleaded guilty to one charge of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and was also ordered to pay costs of $2000.

Stott was working as an interstate truck driver when he was seriously injured in a crash in 2014 and began receiving weekly workers compensation payments. The fraud was uncovered in December 2018 after Stott posted on social media about a new role as an interstate driver. An ensuing investigation found Stott earned about $55,000 as a truck driver for five different transport companies between February 2017 and August 2018 while continuing to tell his GP, insurer and an independent medical examiner that he had not returned to work.

Return to Work Victoria Executive Director Jason Lardelli said there is no excuse for this level of dishonesty, adding that the workers compensation scheme is there to help those who genuinely need it to support their recovery and return to work. “The Victorian public expects us to safeguard these funds and those who actively seek to defraud the system by using it for personal gain will be held to account,” Lardelli said.

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