Major construction company hit by alleged multi-million-dollar insider fraud

Police allege Shadforth's information was illegally accessed and distributed. (Supplied) A Queensland police investigation has uncovered a major insider fraud plot allegedly targeting Sunshine Coast construction giant Shadforth. The hacking of sensitive data potentially contributed to the company missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars in projects. Six men have been charged with fraud offences and two will face court on Wednesday. Link copiedShareShare articleA Queensland police investigation has uncovered an alleged industrial espionage operation that potentially contributed to a major construction company missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars in projects. Scott Larson, 35, and Jesse Martin, 40, are accused of hacking sensitive files from their former employer and leaking the data to competitors. The pair was employed by Shadforth, a Sunshine Coast-based company that builds residential, commercial and industrial hubs across Queensland and New South Wales. Scott Larson and Jesse Martin are due to face Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Wednesday. (ABC News: Jessica Ross) Mr Larson allegedly began illegally accessing and distributing confidential information from July 2021 while he worked at Shadforth. In May last year, an anonymous letter was sent to Shadforth's head office alleging Mr Martin and Mr Larson were colluding to access sensitive information about Shadforth's live tender submissions. "Giving others an edge when tendering against Shadforth," the letter stated. The anonymous letter claimed Mr Martin, who worked for SEE Group after leaving Shadforth in 2018, was passing on Shadforth's information to competitors including Winslow, BMD and Golding, "while also sharing it with members of SEE to further his position". It is alleged Shadforth's intellectual property was provided to three line managers at SEE Civil, the civil construction arm of Gold Coast-based SEE Group. The letter prompted Shadforth to conduct an urgent software and systems audit going back several years. Scott Larson is accused of defrauding Shadforth while he worked there. (Supplied) The audit allegedly found a significant number of unauthorised IP addresses had been accessing a secure folder containing sensitive details of the entire business blueprint — tenders, pipe infrastructure, pricing, profit margins and mark-ups. The offending allegedly began in July 2021 when Mr Larson adjusted an internal link to prevent it from expiring, allowing unfettered access to secure files by himself, Mr Martin and others. It is alleged more than 1,200 documents were downloaded, and a further 2,000 files were accessed by the external IP addresses. At times, Shadforth's tender documents were unlawfully accessed just hours before a project submission was due, with some competitors' bids later found to have been as little as $1,000 less than Shadforth's. Jesse Martin allegedly used the information to further his career. (Supplied) Mr Larson worked at Shadforth for seven years until 2022, but allegedly continued accessing files until May 2025, while Mr Martin worked at the company for over a decade until 2018. The leaked information often related to multi-million-dollar tenders, including for major projects with organisations such as Stockland, AVID Property Group, and the Queensland government. The ABC understands Shadforth missed out on more than 100 contracts worth an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars in the four years its servers were compromised. There is no suggestion Shadforth would have won all of those contracts, and police were unable to prove to the required threshold that the men's actions directly caused the company to lose that much money. Police began investigating in May last year and have so far charged six people with about 90 offences. Mr Larson and Mr Martin were each charged with fraud and computer hacking in June last year. They are due to face Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Wednesday. From left: Finnian Rowe, Sean Ford and Garran Howell are all due to face court within the next month. (Supplied) Three former SEE Civil line managers — Finnian Rowe, Sean Ford and Garran Howell — are facing a combined 67 charges of receiving tainted property. Mr Ford and Mr Howell next face court on the Sunshine Coast next month, while Mr Rowe's matter will be mentioned on the Gold Coast next week. The trio has since left SEE Civil and now work together at another civil construction company in Queensland. The sixth man charged was 38-year-old consultant Jamie Allan Galloway, who pleaded guilty in January to computer hacking and receiving tainted property. He was fined $1,800 but avoided having a conviction recorded. In a statement, SEE Group chief executive Joel Barnes said he was aware of the "serious allegations and charges" levelled against some of his former employees. "The alleged conduct is deeply concerning and does not align with the ethics, values, or standards of behaviour expecte

Major construction company hit by alleged multi-million-dollar insider fraud

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