PHOTO: Real Estate Agent (FILE)
A former real estate agent, who was the officer in effective control and the sole director of an agency, has been prosecuted for withdrawing more than $3 million from a trust account before depositing the money back into that account at a later date.
As noted by Consumer Affairs Victoria, trust accounts “are established to keep clients’ money separate from general estate agency business funds”.
Under Section 90 of the Estate Agents Act 1980, estate agents must not cause a deficiency in a trust account, Consumer Affairs flagged.
Zhenhua Yang – also known as Bruce Yang – and Ausco Real Estate have both pleaded guilty to offences of causing a deficiency of trust money under the Estate Agents Act 1980.
According to Consumer Affairs, between April and November 2017, Mr Yang withdrew funds totalling $3,260,000 from Ausco’s real estate trust account and transferred them into another Ausco bank account before later returning them to the trust account.
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