Yahoo Finance JAIL for Sydney property manager who stole from renters
A western Sydney property manager has been sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment for fraudulently diverting $19,000 of rental bond money into her own bank account.
Parramatta Local Court heard that Tran My Phuong Le, also known as Angelina Le, was the property manager for Lucky Dragon Development Company real estate agency when the business was inspected by NSW Fair Trading in August 2017.
“Fair Trading investigators found that nine rental bonds were missing from Lucky Dragon’s account which should have been lodged with the Rental Bond Board,” said Fair Trading commissioner Rose Webb.
“A few of the tenants recalled paying the bond in cash to ‘Angelina’.”
When Fair Trading issued Le with a notice to be interviewed about the missing money, she confessed to diverting the bond from all nine properties into her own account.
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“The $19,280 from nine rental bonds were supposed to be held in a trust account but instead it was used for Ms Le’s personal expenses,” Webb said.
Le will serve her sentence through an intensive corrections order, plus perform 100 hours of community service.
“Fair Trading remains proactive in its disciplinary and enforcement action to ensure that anyone in the real estate industry acts in a responsible and honest manner,” said Webb.
The missing money was later paid to the Rental Bond Board out of the real estate agency’s own ledger and Le voluntarily gave up her registration certificate.
Le has the right to appeal the court decision, which was handed down April 4.
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