ASIC has permanently banned Victorian finance broker, Ms Kieu Thi-Thanh Huynh, from engaging in credit activities after she was convicted of serious fraud offences.
Ms Huynh has also been disqualified her from managing a corporation for five years as a result of her conviction.
Ms Huynh, of Sunshine, Victoria, is the former sole director of St Andrews Mortgage Solutions Pty Ltd (SAMS), which was authorised to engage in credit activities as a credit representative for a number of Australian Credit Licensees between July 2010 and March 2013.
In February 2014, Ms Huynh pleaded guilty and was convicted in the Supreme Court of Victoria of 27 charges of obtaining property by deception and one charge of attempting to obtain property by deception. Ms Huynh was sentenced to four years imprisonment, to serve a minimum of two years before parole. The proceedings were brought by Victoria Police.
The charges arose from Ms Huynh’s involvement in the creation of false payslips which she then submitted to various credit providers in support of loan applications on behalf of clients of SAMS.
The 27 successful loan applications fraudulently created with the assistance of Ms Huynh resulted in her clients obtaining home loans totalling $9,411,688.30. Ms Huynh received up-front commissions of $41,231.14 and trailing commissions of $14,510.85, totalling $55,741.99. Ms Hunyh also received cash payments of up to $10,000 from the recipients of the loans arising from the creation of the false payslips.
ASIC Deputy Chairman Peter Kell said: ‘People who are authorised to engage in credit activities are expected to act honestly and with integrity. ASIC will act to ensure that finance brokers who engage in loan fraud are removed from the industry.
‘As a further measure to protect the public from unscrupulous operators, Ms Huynh is automatically banned from managing companies for five years as a result of her conviction for serious fraud offences.’
Mrs Huhyn has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.