Home loan broker handed 14-month sentence

Parramatta Local Court sentenced broker Trevor William King on Friday (10 February) following charges over faked loan and payslip information for mortgages.

Mr King is to serve a 14-month intensive corrections order (ICO) after he was found guilty of making the false documents to “obtain a financial advantage”, contrary to s253(b)(ii) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), the court explained.

The Sydney broker had pleaded guilty on 16 December 2022 to six “rolled-up charges”.

Background to the case

Following a referral from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Commonwealth director of public prosecutions prosecuted the matter.

It was alleged that, between 2 July 2013 and 12 May 2016, Mr King created 74 false documents in support of 29 loan applications, including 57 false payslips, nine false PAYG payment summaries and eight false real estate documents, ASIC highlighted.

It was alleged that Mr King used these false documents to “support loan applications for clients of the credit brokerage businesses he part-owned and operated”, JT King Finance Pty Ltd and Australia Enterprises Pty Ltd.

Mr King or others would then obtain loan commissions for the approved loans, ASIC had explained.

Commission amount ‘not insignificant’

According to the court, Mr King “and others” accrued a total amount of commissions of $81,057.35.

The commissions from the approved loans ranged from $643.50 to $6,795.36 in upfront commissions and $99.67 to $2,470.69 in trail commissions, it added.

Court Magistrate Thompson remarked that Mr King was “in a position of trust” and that “the quantum of financial benefit he received was not insignificant".

Magistrate Thompson also noted the integrity of the home loan and credit industry, explaining that those employed in the industry should be “held to the highest level of probity.”

The maximum penalty for an offence contrary to s253(b)(ii) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), when dealt with summarily, is two years’ imprisonment and/or 100 penalty units, ASIC confirmed.

What could the ICO contain?

According to Judicial Commission of NSW (JCNSW), Section 7(1) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 provides that a court that has sentenced an offender to imprisonment in respect of one or more offences may make an intensive correction order (ICO) directing that the sentence be served by way of intensive correction in the community.

Changes made in 2018 now allow offenders to access “intensive supervision as an alternative to a short prison sentence”, it explained.

This is to “help courts ensure that offenders address their offending behaviour and are held accountable”, it added, citing Attorney General (NSW), the Hon M Speakman SC.

With community safety key to the adjudication of each ICO’s structure, the updated provisions also:

- give the court more discretion to tailor the particular conditions to be imposed on the ICO to the individual offender

- require that an ICO be subject to two standard conditions and at least one additional condition (which may include home detention), and

-  further restrict the offences for which an ICO can be made.