Jordan Shanks, aka Friendlyjordies, and his lawyer Mark Davis have been running a fraud scam, known as the Wombat Trust, raising money for court cases that don’t exist.

So, I have made a formal complaint about Mark Davis’s conduct to the Office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner (OLSC), who investigate corrupt lawyers.

This story is important because it is the tip of the iceberg and also involves a lawyer and his law firm.

Jordan Shanks has form on the board for ripping off $mllions raising money, and when questions have been put to Shanks, he responds to a few questions but ignores most, and his lawyer, Mark Davis, owner of XD Law and Advocacy, refuses to answer any questions.

How the Wombat Trust fraud scam works

Jordan Shanks and Mark Davis set up the Wombat Trust and started promoting it in October 2024. So far they have raised $82,439 of a targeted $200,000 for the Wombat Trust.

You don’t have to go past what is on the Wombat Trust crowdfunding page on Chuffed.org, as per the screenshots below, to realise it has “fraud scam” written all over it.

I first reported on the Wombat Trust in April 2025, when I sent questions to Mark Davis and asked about the Wombat Trust money:

“Can you advise how much of the money has been paid to XD Law & Advocacy and how much has been paid to other law firms and who are they?” But Mr Davis refused to answer.

I reported on the Wombat Trust again in August 2025.

Running a fundraising scam is not a victimless crime. There are 1615 donators less Jordan Shanks’ donation, which makes 1614 victims.

Below is a screenshot of the main page for the Wombat Trust fundraising.

Below is the pitch on the Wombat Trust fundraising page:

The beauty of this idea is in its simplicity.

This type of fund usually has big boards, big over heads, big chunks of money taken out of the bottom line. This won’t. This goes into an account. It stays there. We don’t touch it. Plain and simple.

The money waits around until a law firm/lawyer comes to us with an environmental case they want to take up, we cover their overheads for all the stuff that makes them normally reject it i.e admin, printing costs, submissions etc.

These costs usually run into the tens of thousands and it’s understandable why they wouldn’t want to cover this when they’re already devoting their time pro bono.

This solves that problem.

I’m putting $5,000 of my own money into this project. I believe in it.

Lawyers if you have a case but don’t want to be out of pocket, come to us.

Everyone else chuck in come cash. We’re confident this is going to be the most cost effective way to rack up some real environmental wins.

XD Law Firm will be assisting us with this endevour. (Click here to see the Wombat Trust website)

(Click here to see screenshot 1, screenshot 2, screenshot 3, screenshot 4 and screenshot 5 of the Wombat Trust website)

Below is an edited version of Jordan Shanks’ video titled “Huge Legal Drama” and was posted on the 22^nd of October 2024 to promote donations to the Wombat Trust. At the 43 second mark Jordan Shanks says “This fund won’t just be for my lawyers.”

It makes no mention of XD Law getting some of the money on the Wombat Trust crowdfunding page. Why didn’t they disclose that so the people making donations could see? (Click here to watch the full video)

Below is Jordan Shanks’ video titled “100% Uncut Copium” and was posted on the 28^th of October 2024. At the 1 minute mark Shanks says, “Lawyers who want money should send a message to Friendlyjordies or XD law” and at the 1.20 minute mark Shanks says words to the effect, “Myself and XD Law decided to raise more money taking it from $60,000 to $200,000.” (Click here to watch the full video)

Watching both videos above it is clear that lawyer Mark Davis is a major decision maker and driver of the Wombat Trust fundraising and a major beneficiary. That has not been declared on the Wombat Trust fundraising page which is very disturbing.

Some of the red flags to the above are:

1. The Wombat Trust is not transparent at all and extremely vague, and the lack of any reported use after nearly two years is a real problem.
2. There is no public record of any of the money having been used on a specific environmental case. Neither Jordan Shanks or Mark Davis will respond to questions about where the money has gone.
3. Public sources do not show any case that has actually been funded, any disbursement figure, or any detailed update listing grants.
4. The Wombat Trust website has an “updates” page, but there are no updates.
5. A normal charitable or litigation fund would show a trustee or company and at the very least basic accounts.
6. Jordan Shanks and Mark Davis don’t say what they will do with the money if no court cases ever eventuate?

What is missing is any public account of the money actually being used. There are no published case names, no disbursement totals, no list of firms paid, and no updates on the Chuffed page showing grants.

After 2 years, donors have no way to check that the funds still exist, that it has not been drawn for other purposes, or that anyone has even applied for grants.

Jordan Shanks and Mark Davis are using the same fundraising model Shanks used to raise $millions for his defamation battle with former NSW Deputy Premier Jahn Barilaro, settled for $100,000 and spent a small amount on other matters, and Shanks claims he has kept the rest in his lawyer’s trust for future legal proceedings that may never eventuate.

Someone posted in the comments on the Wombat Trust Chuffed page 12 months ago and said, “Has anyone come to Jordan with an environmental case they want to prosecute?” Jordan Shanks did not respond.

Mark Davis as a lawyer and the head of his own law firm has ethical obligations. Refusing to answer questions about where the money is and what it has been spent on is scandalous conduct by a lawyer especially given it was raised by public fundraising.

I have just made a complaint about Mark Davis’s conduct to the Office of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner (OLSC). (Click here to read the complaint)

I’ll keep following up.

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