A female prosecutor accused of having sexualised relationships with prison inmates has been hit with 12 fresh charges of knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime, for allegedly trading information for thousands of dollars.
And an organised crime figure, Sargon Namat, who allegedly paid her thousands in cash for names and addresses, has since been charged with conspiracy to murder, kidnapping and detaining for ransom different alleged victims.
Vanessa O’Bryan is now being prosecuted alongside Namat – who used the codename ’50cent’ to communicate with her via an encrypted messaging app – for their alleged money-for-secret-files arrangement.
One of the men the 32-year-old lawyer allegedly had a sexualised liaison with is convicted gangland murderer Joshua Baines.
Namat and O’Bryan, who is suspended without pay from her role as a lawyer for the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions while on bail, are due to face Downing Centre Local Court later this month.
O’Bryan now faces 20 charges, including knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime for sums of up to $15,000 and being a public official engaging in misconduct by maintaining sexualised relationships with inmates in correctional facilities.
Apart from being banned from all state prisons, she is also barred from using social media and possessing more than one mobile phone or SIM card.
She must also not ‘use or possess any encrypted device or any means of communicating via encrypted applications, including but not limited to WhatsApp, Snapchat, Wickr, Viber, KIK Messenger, Zoom, Discord, WeChat, Telegram or Signal’.
Prosecutor Vanessa O’Bryan (pictured), accused of having sexualised relationships with prison inmates, has been hit with 12 new charges for allegedly trading information with criminals in exchange for cash
O’Bryan is being prosecuted alongside organised crime figure Sargon Namat (pictured) who used a code name ’50cent’ to communicate with her via an encrypted messaging app
Suspended DPP lawyer O’Bryan came under suspicion after virtually dobbing herself in, reporting abusive texts about Terry Sampson – a violent repeat offender and one of the inmates she allegedly had an affair with
Documents tendered to the court previously canvassed police fears about the information O’Bryan had allegedly provided to underworld figures, and the risk it posed to individual safety or ongoing court matters.
O’Bryan allegedly had hundreds of conversations with Baines between May 2023 and January 2025 for the sole purpose of engaging in an intimate relationship with him.
A court heard earlier this year that she was ‘not only willing to have sexual relationships with inmates, but also compromise police investigations as a result of those relationships’.
O’Bryan is bailed on conditions that she is ‘not to contact or attempt to contact any person incarcerated in a correctional facility, including through another person, other than a legal representative’.
It is further alleged she accessed confidential files while working as a solicitor for the DPP, and compromised police investigations due to her alleged relationships with inmates.
Police began their investigation after O’Bryan reported receiving abusive texts about Terry Sampson, a violent repeat offender and one of the inmates with whom she allegedly had an affair.
Police allege O’Bryan effectively dobbed herself in after she reported receiving texts from Sampson’s then-girlfriend, Sharna Cain.
‘I swear you and Terry aren’t getting away with this hahaha big lawyer I’m coming for you,’ Cain wrote.
O’Bryan has been suspended without pay
One of the men O’Bryan allegedly had a sexualised liaison with is convicted gangland murderer Joshua Baines (above)
Cain pleaded guilty and was handed a 12-month community correction order for intimidation.
Police facts allege that during a three-way call between O’Bryan, Cain and Sampson, O’Bryan made comments indicating the sexualised relationship she had with Sampson.
‘The accused is a DPP solicitor and former defence solicitor who has had access to high-level criminals on a professional and personal level,’ the facts alleged.
In October last year, police raided O’Bryan’s Ballina home in the NSW Northern Rivers District, where she worked for the DPP at its Lismore office.
They seized mobile phones, computers, and documents before she was arrested and suspended from her job.
Court documents seen by the Daily Mail allege that on three separate occasions in August and September 2023, Sargon Namat allegedly did ‘corruptly give or offer Vanessa O’Bryan at her request $5,000 for providing names and addresses of persons connected or involved in organised crime.
Namat was later charged with conspiring to murder a man at Wetherill Park and with allegedly kidnapping a man for ransom in St Marys. He was further charged with wounding that person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
O’Bryan has not been charged in relation to those allegations, or with any violent offence.
Vanessa O’Bryan reports to police at Windsor while on bail, under strict conditions that she not use or possess any encrypted device or communicate via encrypted applications
O’Bryan was initially charged with three counts of misconduct in public office, two counts of accessing restricted data, and hindering the discovery of evidence.
She was then further accused of knowingly deriving a material benefit from a criminal group and knowingly dealing with proceeds of crime with intent to conceal.
The new charges of knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime have increased from ten to twelve, and may rise further as DPP lawyers trawl through hundreds of files and gather more evidence.
O’Bryan’s name and those of the inmates she allegedly had relationships with were originally suppressed, but that order has been lifted, although some names remain protected.
She is alleged to have had sexualised relationships with prisoners and a ‘prolonged association with a number of criminals’.
Namat has been charged over three corruption-for-benefit allegations that he paid O’Bryan $5,000 in exchange for classified DPP information.
Namat is facing three counts alleging an inducement or reward was offered O’Bryan in multiple conversations in which police allege O’Bryan and ’50cent’ discussed her providing names and addresses in exchange for cash.
The sum for just one address was allegedly $5,000, but other sums in the proceeds of crime charges against O’Bryan with unnamed donors range from $80 up to $500 and $1,000.
In April this year, the Daily Mail confronted O’Bryan as she arrived at Windsor Police Station to report for bail, after appearing to have a road-rage confrontation with a man in a ute who had cut her off at a nearby intersection.
When she entered the police station, she yelled at a news photographer, stood up and down in agitation and refused to answer questions about the charges she had allegedly had sexualised relationships with inmates.
‘I have nothing to say to you,’ she said.
A spokesperson for the ODPP issued a statement once O’Bryan practising certificate was cancelled, saying it took ‘all criminal accusations very seriously and continues to co-operate closely with NSW Police’.
‘A full internal investigation will take place after the criminal investigation has concluded.’
