Daniel Nguyen leaves the District Court after pleading guilty to a mortgage fraud (Source: The Daily Telegraph)
Daniel Nguyen leaves the downing centre court complex after pleading guilty to fraud.
A mortgage broker who spruiked his business as an ‘industry award winner’ applied for more than $3 million in home loans for his customers using fake payslips, bank statements and group certificates.
But in the end, just one dodgy loan application went through and Daniel Minh Tuan Nguyen was left to pocket only $5700 in commissions from his six-month fraud.
Today the 44-year-old sole director and shareholder of MAI Pacific, which also went under the banner of MAI Home Loans, faced Downing Centre Local Court, where he pleaded guilty to submitting nine false loan applications.
He also admitted to helping three clients apply for unsuitable products – the first criminal charges laid under new consumer-protection laws.
The regulations, which came into effect in 2010, made it illegal for licensed brokers to sign customers to contracts knowing their clients either wouldn’t be able to meet the financial agreements or would suffer substantial hardship under the deals.
Over a six-month period from 2010 to early 2011, Nguyen met with five aspiring home owners looking to fund their property purchases at his Bankstown office, court documents today revealed.
MAI’s company advertising claimed its goal was to “provide customers with an extensive range of flexible and competitive financial products that (are) suited to (each) individual”.
One woman approached the broker wanting a $532,000 loan to buy a home at Cherrybrook, in Sydney’s north – but she was unable to provide proof of her employment or regular income.
Nguyen used a “contact” to produce six false documents for a home-loan application with ANZ, including a letter which said the woman had been working as an office manager for more than three years on a $64,000 annual salary.
The loan was approved and the broker took home over $5,700 from the deal.
He tried to repeat the scam with another four customers and eight applications for individual amounts of up to $480,000, supplying fake pay documents which claimed the clients were working in positions as technicians, managers or kitchen hands.
None of the home loans went ahead, with several applications withdrawn when the banks demanded to see more paperwork.
One of the lenders eventually tipped off authorities to the suspicious activity and Nguyen’s credit licence was cancelled in October last year after he was put under investigation.
He will return to court for sentencing next week.
(Source: Peter Bodkin, Daily Telegraph, 25 September 25 2012)
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