Former finance broker fined for fraud

The loan applications had used false supporting documents that had not been provided to Mr Wilson by his customers.

The loans totalled $56,454.50 and were approved by Esanda, a division of ANZ at the time.

Mr Wilson was paid commissions based on loans that he arranged.

ASIC permanently banned him from engaging in credit activities in October 2017.

He was sentenced at the Ringwood Magistrates’ Court last week, on Tuesday (29 March), after pleading guilty to the charges on 15 March.

The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions after an investigation and referral of a prosecution brief by ASIC.

Mr Wilson is not the only finance broker from Combined Motor Traders who has landed in hot water.

In December 2020, Adam Edward Greene, another ex-broker from Combined Motor Traders, was sentenced after pleading guilty to four counts of fraud involving around $85,300.

He was fined $3,000, without conviction. He had also been banned from engaging in credit activities in 2017, after ASIC found the four loans he submitted to Esanda contained false information or false documents.

Similarly, Vaughn Thomas Hopkins, also a former broker from Combined Motor Traders, was sentenced after pleading guilty to four counts of fraud involving around $61,100, in April last year.

He had also copped a fine of $3,000, without conviction. Mr Hopkins was permanently banned from engaging in credit activities in 2016.

[Related: Record level of commercial loans written by brokers]