Mortgage broker convicted of providing banks false info to secure $7.5m of loans: ASIC
A former mortgage broker has now been convicted of providing false information to banks, which led to securing approvals for home loans totalling $7.5 million.
The NSW, Dural mortgage broker, Hee Seng Lee, 58, plead guilty to the six charges which included making false statements and providing false documents.
The loans Lee was involved in ranged from $160,000 to $1.5 million. There were 12 in total, including some in his own name. The false information related to the income and/or employment of the applicant, and included falsified documents such as payslips, tax returns and notices of assessment purportedly issued by the ATO.
Currently, more than 20 investigations are underway by ASIC involving falsification of loan documentation and loan applications.
On December 6, 2013, Lee was sentenced to two years imprisonment to be served by way of an Intensive Correction Order. This was at his appearance at the Sydney District Court.
The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
He plead guilty to the charges back in August.The loans were submitted between April 2006 and March 2011, during which time he was a director of A & H Vision Mortgage Group Pty Ltd, trading as H Lee's Finance Co and Loan Care & Co. The credit licence for this company was cancelled on 3 January 2012.
ASIC Deputy Chairman Peter Kell said that any attempts to falsify loan documents and applications will not be tolerated.
"These actions can be significantly detrimental to clients," said Kell.
"We will continue to shine the spotlight on broker misconduct around loan fraud and false loan applications."
Just today, ASIC also announced a permanent ban of a former mortgage broker from engaging in credit activities or providing financial services following a criminal conviction in January.
Daniel Minh Tuan Nguyen, of Panania, had been convicted of 10 offences, including providing false information and documents to banks to secure home loans. These loans totalled in excess of $3 million over five months.
Nguyen plead guilty to these charges. He was the sole director and sole employee of M.A.I Pacific Pty Ltd (MAI Home Loans), Bankstown.
"Mr Nguyen’s conduct was not inadvertent or the result of a momentary lapse. It was a deliberate, ongoing course of conduct that he knew to be in breach of the law," said Kell.
"The banning of Mr Nguyen continues ASIC's actions to protect the public from the harm associated with falsifying loan documents and loan applications."