Thanh Danh Van scammed ParkTrent clients to repay gambling debts

A man swindled two people out of almost $100,000 in order to pay back his own gambling debts.

An Illawarra man has narrowly escaped jail after swindling two people out of tens of thousands of dollars in order to “protect” himself from criminal gangs, a court has heard.

Thanh Danh Van faced Wollongong Local Court on Monday where he was sentenced to 12 months jail to be served in the community, after running a short-term, high-interest investment scheme to pay back gambling debts.

On Tuesday, his lawyer Graeme Morrison told Magistrate Gabriel Fleming Van’s scheme was born out gambling problems and that he feared “gangs” were going to cause him bodily harm.

“He fell into a situation of gambling trying to catch that illusive dollar,” Mr Morrison said.

“His deception was impossibly high interest rates, he was trying to get on top of things.”

Thanh Danh Van outside Wollongong Court on March 16. Picture: Madeline Crittenden

The court heard Van was charged with five counts of dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception in 2018, to which he pleaded guilty, after preying on two “gullible” victims he met through his employer ParkTrent Properties Group.

The court heard PakTrent is a company that “offers knowledge and guidance for Australian investment property owners’ ‘, and that as part of his role, Van would meet advise and assist potential clients.

Van met his first victim, a Sydney woman, through Parktrent in 2017 and offered her an opportunity to “invest” $10,000 for three months, which would generate $1250 in interest for her per month.

She was of the belief Van was acting as an agent for ParkTrent and the money was being invested by the company, however, after depositing the cash into the business account, she was refunded, and was told to deposit into a Commonwealth bank account - which police later found was held by Van’s daughter.

Van was sentenced at Wollongong Local Court. Picture: Steven Bell

Between July and September, the woman deposited a further $20,000 with promises of huge interest returns. However, when her first instalment failed to come through to her account, she contacted Van, who proposed all payments he deferred for three months and he would pay back the owed amount in full.

In October, he met with the victim, and promised to pay her $50,000 being the total amount owed plus “interest on top”.

However the money was never received and she reported the matter to police.

Van also took advantage of another ParkTrent client’s trust, who invested $50,000 with Van with the promise of high interest returns, but he too was left entirely out of pocket.

He was arrested in 2018 after a police investigation.

In court on Tuesday, Magistrate Fleming said Van’s offending was “appalling”.

“These were Innocent people who were trying to save their money just like you,” she said.

“Yet through your action they are out of profit, it is reprehensible.”

As part of Van’s 12-month intensive corrections order, Magistrate Fleming ordered he undergo gambling rehabilitation and pay back $80,000 in compensation to the victims.

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