PHOTO: Nicolette Van Wijngaarden
Trust account fraud by real estate agents is a breach of trust equally as serious as that committed by their more “professional” counterparts such as lawyers and accountants, a Sydney court heard during the scheduled sentencing of real estate agent Nicolette van Wijngaarden.
Ms van Wijngaarden who pleaded guilty to a $3.69 million trust account fraud in her business Unique Estates Australia in June – the largest trust account fraud in NSW – was due to be sentenced on Friday, facing up to 10 years in prison.
Judge Pickering has however deferred the sentencing until November to consider further submissions in a case that was not as “clear cut” as other frauds.
“It’s a complex matter and I do agree it has some unusual features to it as she [Ms van Wijngaarden] isn’t the classic single-minded fraudster,” he said.
“But when you sell or buy Sydney homes, an extraordinary amount of money is put in the trust of real estate agents and for most people never in their lives would they trust that much money to anyone … so I wonder why a breach of trust by a solicitor is more serious than a breach of trust by a real estate agent?”
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