Spending $234,700 defrauded from Accident Compensation to impress his new girlfriend did not lessen Cheng-Yin Wu’s culpability for fraud the High Court ruled, confirming twelve months home detention as necessary to underscore the seriousness of his offending.
Wu is a 26 year old acupuncturist. He was convicted of fraud after submitting false electronic payment forms to ACC over an eighteen month period from 2017 claiming payment for services he did not provide. When told he was under investigation, Wu wrote up false clinical notes to support the false claims made. When this ruse fell apart, Wu confessed to the false billing and repaid in full the $234,738 falsely claimed.
Wu appealed a sentence of twelve months home detention imposed after a District Court hearing. The fact he committed the fraud to promote a lifestyle impressing his new girlfriend lessened the seriousness of the offence, he said.
This was not a case of a young person impulsively stealing something of little value to impress the object of his affection, Justice Downs said. It was a long running fraud spread over eighteen months.
Wu v. Accident Compensation Corporation – High Court (12.11.21)
22.003