A female prosecutor accused of pursuing sexualised relationships with prison inmates is facing 12 additional charges alleging she knowingly handled criminal proceeds in exchange for confidential information and cash payments.
Organised crime figure Sargon Namat, who allegedly paid her thousands of dollars for names and addresses, has since been charged with conspiracy to murder, kidnapping and detaining alleged victims for ransom.
Vanessa O’Bryan is being prosecuted alongside Namat, who allegedly used the codename ’50cent’ to communicate with her through an encrypted messaging application, over the alleged exchange of money for secret files.
Among the men the 32-year-old lawyer allegedly became involved with is convicted gangland killer Joshua Baines.
O’Bryan, who has been suspended without pay from her position with the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions while on bail, is due to appear with Namat at Downing Centre Local Court later this month.
She now faces 20 charges, including allegations that she knowingly dealt with criminal proceeds worth up to $15,000 and that, as a public official, she engaged in misconduct by maintaining sexualised relationships with inmates in correctional facilities.
In addition to being prohibited from entering any state prison, O’Bryan is barred from using social media and from possessing more than one mobile phone or SIM card.
Her bail conditions also prohibit her from using or possessing ‘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) is accused of having sexualised relationships with prison inmates and exchanging information with criminals for cash. She now faces 12 additional charges
O’Bryan is being prosecuted alongside alleged organised crime figure Sargon Namat (pictured), who reportedly used the codename ’50cent’ to contact her through an encrypted messaging app
The suspended DPP lawyer came under scrutiny after reporting abusive messages about Terry Sampson, a violent repeat offender and inmate with whom she allegedly had a relationship
Documents previously filed in court outlined police concerns about the information O’Bryan allegedly supplied to underworld figures and the potential danger it posed to individuals and ongoing legal proceedings.
Police allege O’Bryan exchanged hundreds of messages with Baines between May 2023 and January 2025, primarily for the purpose of maintaining an intimate relationship with him.
The court was told 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’.
Under her bail conditions, O’Bryan must not contact or try to contact anyone incarcerated in a correctional facility, directly or through another person, unless that person is acting as a legal representative.
Authorities further allege that she accessed confidential material while working as a DPP solicitor and compromised police investigations through her alleged relationships with inmates.
The investigation began after O’Bryan reported receiving abusive messages about Terry Sampson, a violent repeat offender and one of the inmates with whom she allegedly had an affair.
Police claim O’Bryan effectively drew attention to herself by reporting messages sent by 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
Convicted gangland murderer Joshua Baines (above) is alleged to be one of the men with whom O’Bryan had a sexualised relationship
Cain pleaded guilty to intimidation and received a 12-month community correction order.
Police facts allege that, during a three-way call involving O’Bryan, Cain and Sampson, the prosecutor made comments that indicated she had a sexualised relationship 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,’ police alleged in the facts.
In October last year, police searched O’Bryan’s home in Ballina, in the NSW Northern Rivers, where she worked from the DPP’s Lismore office.
Investigators seized mobile phones, computers and documents before arresting her and suspending her from duty.
Court documents seen by the Daily Mail allege that, on three occasions in August and September 2023, Namat ‘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 allegedly conspiring to murder a man at Wetherill Park and kidnapping another man for ransom in St Marys. He also faces a charge of wounding that man with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
O’Bryan has not been charged over those allegations and does not face any violent offence.
Vanessa O’Bryan reports to police in Windsor while on bail under strict conditions banning her from possessing encrypted devices or communicating through encrypted applications
O’Bryan was initially charged with three counts of misconduct in public office, two counts of accessing restricted data and one count of hindering the discovery of evidence.
She was later accused of knowingly obtaining a material benefit from a criminal group and knowingly dealing with criminal proceeds with an intention to conceal them.
The latest charges alleging that she knowingly handled criminal proceeds bring the total from 10 to 12. More charges could follow as DPP lawyers review hundreds of files and collect further evidence.
O’Bryan’s name, along with the names of inmates she allegedly became involved with, was initially suppressed. That order has since been lifted, although some identities remain protected.
She is alleged to have formed sexualised relationships with prisoners and maintained a ‘prolonged association with a number of criminals’.
Namat faces three corruption-for-benefit charges alleging he paid O’Bryan $5,000 in return for classified DPP information.
The charges allege that Namat offered an inducement or reward during several conversations in which he, using the name ’50cent’, discussed obtaining names and addresses from O’Bryan in exchange for cash.
One address was allegedly worth $5,000, while other payments cited in the proceeds-of-crime allegations against O’Bryan, involving unnamed donors, range from $80 to $500 and $1,000.
In April this year, the Daily Mail approached O’Bryan as she arrived at Windsor Police Station to meet her bail obligations after an apparent road-rage confrontation with a man in a ute who had cut her off at a nearby intersection.
Inside the station, she reportedly yelled at a news photographer, repeatedly stood and sat in agitation and declined to answer questions about the allegations that she had sexualised relationships with inmates.
‘I have nothing to say to you,’ she said.
A spokesperson for the ODPP said, after O’Bryan’s practising certificate was cancelled, that the organisation 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.’