A former commercial pilot, who was once convicted of posing as a lawyer, used the purchase process of a Lake Macquarie business to access the personal information of more than two dozen people and traded their details for drugs.
Nathaniel John Whitehall obtained copies of bank cards, passports, drivers licences, Medicare cards, marriage certificates and other documents belonging to customers of Lake Macquarie Conveyancing.
As he was in the process of attempting to buy the business, he was able to access the records under the guise of due diligence.
According to a statement of agreed facts tendered to Belmont Local Court on Tuesday, police from Strike Force Haldi - set up to investigate drug supply in the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie area in 2021 - came across Whitehall while they were monitoring the phone activity of a drug dealer.
After their surveillance revealed Whitehall was buying drugs from the man, investigators began to suspect he was paying for the substances in an unconventional way.
Whitehall and his partner began the process of purchasing Lake Macquarie Conveyancing in early 2020, which court documents said gave them "unfettered access" to personal details of the business' customers.
As phone and text conversations between Whitehall and the drug dealer made reference to retrieving information, police developed the theory that Whitehall was trading people's personal details for drugs.
Covert investigators watched a meeting between Whitehall and the drug dealer outside a Cardiff home in November, 2021, during which Whitehall handed the dealer a folder before he left the scene.
Two months later, police found a folder containing copies of Lake Macquarie Conveyancing customers' personal documents when they raided a Charlestown hotel room being rented by the drug dealer.
Whitehall was arrested in March, 2022, but denied trading documents for drugs, telling police he took papers to buy substances as "a prop" so the encounters appeared to be business meetings.
He pleaded guilty to three counts on Monday, when a two-day hearing was due to begin, as the prosecution withdrew more than 20 charges.
Whitehall, a former Qantas pilot with two decades of experience, was previously fined $4500 and handed a 12-month good behaviour bond in 2023 after he was convicted of posing as a lawyer - including appearing in court and signing documents while passing himself off as a solicitor.
Magistrate Stephen Olischlager on Tuesday adjourned the latest charges to May 21. Whitehall remains on conditional bail.
