Ben Roberts-Smith has no assets or job and lives on a $117,000-a-year veterans pension

SAS veteran Ben Roberts-Smith, who prosecutors have revealed was looking to relocate to Spain, accepted $400,000 from his parents in an unsuccessful attempt to overturn a finding in a lawsuit he committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

The jobless former corporal and television station manager personally funded the High Court appeal in 2023, he said in a court filing, a decision that has left him relying on a military pension of $117,000 a year.

“I have no assets and my personal savings are significantly depleted,” he wrote in a court filing supporting his request for bail on five murder charges.

“My family and I personally funded the defamation appeal proceedings. In order to do this I liquidated all my assets which I had retained after my divorce.”

Mr Roberts-Smith noted in the statement that his lawsuit against Nine Entertainment Co and three of its journalists was funded by businessman Kerry Stokes, who at the time was chairman of Seven West Media, which hired Mr Roberts-Smith.

Mr Stokes is not funding his legal costs in the murder case, a spokesman for the businessman said last week. Seven West Media merged with Southern Cross Austereo earlier this year, with the combined entity the owner of The Nightly.

Father Len Roberts-Smith, a former judge and head of the West Australian anti-corruption commissioner, provided a $250,000 bail surety to secure his son’s release from a Sydney prison last week.

The documents, which were given to journalists Thursday afternoon by the NSW local court, were prepared by Mr Roberts-Smith lawyers before he was arrested in the expectation he would be required to apply for bail.

They provide the first insight into the heavy financial cost of the Victoria Cross awardee’s eight-year campaign to clear his name of allegations he executed prisoners during the insurgency war.

Moving plans

Mr Roberts-Smith and partner Sarah Matulin were preparing to move to Spain to start a new life shortly before he was arrested and charged on April 7, the documents state.

Last October Mr Roberts-Smith began the process to submit a visa application to work in Spain, where he was considering buying a fitness business, Ms Matulin wrote in the bail application.

He had a ticket to fly from Brisbane to Spain on April 11, four days before he was arrested at Sydney Airport in front of Ms Matulin and his 15-year-old twin daughters.

“Ben had told me that if we got to Spain, and the Officer of the Special Investigator intended to charge him and they communicated that to his lawyer, Karen Espiner, that we would need to return home to Australia at any moment for Ben to be charged,” she wrote.

Last October he travelled to Myanmar to explore avocado farming too.

Mr Roberts-Smith was released on bail over the objections of federal prosecutors after spending ten days in custody. It will take years for his murder trial to start, lawyers involved in the case said.

The Federal Government would have spent about $320 million by the end of this financial year investigating war crimes, according to public documents.

Police surveillance

In a submission to the NSW Local Court, an investigator for the Australian Federal Police, Stephen McIntyre, said he had received information Mr Roberts-Smith had told his family he planned to move to Singapore.

Arguing against bail, he accused Mr Roberts-Smith of contacting a witness during the previous legal case, a breach of court rules.

“He told the witness he would be informed of all the evidence given by Roberts-Smith and other witnesses, so that he knew what to say when he gave evidence,” Mr McIntyre wrote.

Mr Roberts-Smith provided a witness with a “burner” phone, and used the phone to disclose what questions he would get in court and how he should answer, according to Mr McIntyre.

The documents indicate police officers were tracking the location of Mr Roberts-Smith’s mobile phone, and either listening to his calls or reading his emails, and using a public database to find out who owned the property listed on his his drivers licence.

“Geolocation of Roberts-Smith’s mobile phone since 19 March 2026 indicates he had been staying at an unknown location in Brisbane, Queensland,” a statement by Mr McIntyre states.

Concerned the couple planned to move to the US, because they requested official fingerprints, officials from the Office of Special Investigator asked the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security if they had requested visas. The did not receive an immediate reply.

“Based on the above, the OSI holds concerns that Roberts-Smith is attempting to relocate to reside in a jurisdiction outside Australia,” the document says.

“The ultimate destination and duration of this relocation is unclear as Roberts-Smith’s booked flights and family suggest Singapore whilst the alternative destinations of Spain or USA have been identified during OSI enquiries. The possibility that Roberts-Smith has intended to disguise his travel plans cannot be excluded.”

A judge determined that Mr Roberts-Smith was not a flight risk and granted him bail on strict conditions. Although confined to living in south-east Queensland, he has to report to a NSW police office three times a week.

He can only travel to Perth or Sydney for medical or legal reasons, can only have one phone and computer and cannot use a gun.