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A former NSW-based broker has walked away from jail time after filing a false credit licence annual compliance certificate to ASIC.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has confirmed that Shiwei He, a former NSW-based broker, has been sentenced and released by Downing Centre Local Court after pleading guilty to a breach of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act.
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Mr He was released without conviction after the former broker entered into recognisance of good behaviour.
This recognisance is valued at $5,000 and is for a period of two years.
The prosecution of Mr He (also referred to as “Darren He”) first began in September 2021 when ASIC first alleged that the former broker, while as a director of N V I Lending Pty Ltd (trading as General Mortgage), made a deliberate false statement in a credit licence annual compliance certificate lodged in February 2019.
According to ASIC, Mr He claimed that none of the “fit and proper people” under his Australian Credit Licence (ACL) had their accreditation suspended or cancelled by a lender, nor did they have their membership with an aggregator terminated.
The commission alleged that, despite this claim, Mr He was in fact aware that his accreditations with Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, NAB and Westpac were either suspended or cancelled between 2016 and 2018.
ASIC also alleged that Mr He claimed that he was accredited to act as an introducer for the LoanKit broker aggregator service despite having his introducer agreement terminated in 2018.
The commission said that accurate compliance reporting “is a critical obligation for credit licensees” in that it ensures consumers “can have confidence in the businesses they look to when applying for credit”.
In February, Mr He pleaded guilty to ASIC’s allegations.
Magistrate Michael Barko was said to have “considered multiple factors when handing down his sentence”, including Mr He’s guilty plea as well as the “prospect of rehabilitation”.
Mr He’s sentencing comes less than a month after the former Finsure broker Rodney Peter Maher was banned from performing any function in credit activity for six years after being found guilty of supplying several false supporting loan documents.
The corporate watchdog said at the time that Mr Maher’s banning is part of its ongoing efforts to improve standards across the financial services industry, adding that mortgage brokers “must act diligently” and comply with credit legislation.
[Related: Ex-broker pleads guilty to false statement]
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