A lawyer for fugitive property developer Jean Nassif offered a Liberal operative $1,000 to persuade journalists to cover an unsubstantiated rumour that a New South Wales minister was having an extramarital affair, Australia's anti-corruption watchdog ICAC (the Independent Commission Against Corruption) has heard. Sharangan Maheswaran, a former lawyer to Nassif and executive at his property company Toplace, admitted offering the payment to lobbyist Jeremy Greenwood to place a story about former minister David Elliott, while insisting the offer was "not serious" — before being confronted with his own written message stating "not joking." The disclosure emerged during broader ICAC hearings into allegations that Liberal figures took $2 million in illegal donations from Nassif in exchange for political outcomes, including damaging the career of Elliott, who had opposed Toplace property developments.