A Gold Coast property developer has been charged over an alleged $10 million fraud scheme perpetrated against NDIS participants in Queensland and Western Australia.
ALAMMC Developments co-owner David McWilliams appeared in Southport Magistrates Court today facing 13 criminal charges relating to alleged misappropriation of funds set aside for the construction of specialist disability housing.
The charges come after a two-year investigation by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) into the activities of Mr McWilliams and his wife and business partner, Laura Fullarton.
This followed reports by Queensland’s gaming regulator that Mr McWilliams had gambled away large amounts of suspected investor funds.
ASIC alleged that, during Mr McWilliams’s tenure as company director between July 2021 and October 2023, he used more than $10 million, which had been raised from investors to fund six NDIS housing projects in the two states, for personal expenses.
Mr McWilliams’s alleged purchases included an Aston Martin, cryptocurrency, a pub in the regional South Australian city of Whyalla, offshore investment in Seychelles, and a luxury high-rise apartment in Gold Coast’s Surfers Paradise for Ms Fullarton, ASIC said.
Four Corners last year reported Mr McWilliams’s alleged activities were designed to take advantage of the NDIS-backed Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) scheme, which was designed to get people with extreme functional impairment and high support needs out of group homes and aged care facilities.
The scheme sees investors receive $110,000 a year in rent support from the federal government on behalf of disabled tenants.
ASIC said ALAMMC Developments commenced work on just one of the six SDA projects linked to the charges.
Mr McWilliams is facing seven counts of dishonestly causing detriment, five of dishonest application of property of another, and one of making false or misleading statements about financial products.
He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment if found guilty.
The ALAMMC group of companies wound up operations in October last year by order of the Federal Court.
Receivers appointed to the companies found Mr McWilliams had raised more than $90 million from more than 500 investors for the intended construction of SDAs, which on most projects was minimal or entirely stopped.
Mr McWilliams’s assets were frozen by the Federal Court in November 2024 after ASIC raids on his Gold Coast office and apartment.
But court documents obtained by Four Corners as part of its investigation last year showed the businessman and his wife allegedly continued to spend lavishly up to mid-2025, including buying a Gold Coast gambling venue worth more than $30,000.
Mr McWilliams’s case will return to court in August.
