Real estate agents in Sydney and NSW who’ve fallen foul of the law
They’re used to sealing the deal on auction day, but these badly behaved real estate agents have recently found themselves in a courtroom, on the wrong side of the gavel.
Police & Courts
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They’re here, there and everywhere, often knocking on your front door when you least expect it.
No, we’re not speaking of the humble door-to-door salesman - these folk are far flashier and richer.
Of course, we’re talking about real estate agents, the profession everyone loves to hate until they’ve got a home to sell.
And as house prices rise in Sydney like never before, the industry and some of its more colourful characters have gained plenty of attention in recent years - sometimes for the wrong reasons.
Just as the homes they sell have become the focus of water cooler conversation in office blocks across the city, so too have the agents who have fallen foul of the law.
These real estate whizzes might be more used to sealing the deal on auction day, but their bad behaviour has landed them inside a courtroom, on the wrong side of the gavel.
CONVICTIONS RECORDED
Daniel Harris
A former real estate agent from Coffs Harbour who was found guilty of 115 dishonesty offences after a jury heard he cooked up a fake investment scheme that defrauded 27 people of a combined $1.1m. He will be sentenced in November.
Slade Small
The 31-year-old former Blackbird Agency employee was sentenced to 12 months jail in February this year for defrauding more than $300,000 from the sale of six separate homes. A subsequent sentence appeal was thrown out of court.
Phoenix Tysonn
Sydney estate agent jailed for five months for hitting a woman in the face in a domestic violence attack at Thredbo. He has lodged a sentence appeal, which is due to be heard in November.
Benjamin Spackman
The Raine & Horne Mona Vale boss was placed on a community correction order and fined $1800 for punching an Uber driver who had ordered him out of his car because he was too drunk.
Erle Cramer
Pleaded guilty to dangerous driving occasioning death after falling unconscious behind the wheel and crashing his car, killing his partner. He will face sentencing in the NSW District Court early next year.
Lionel Coombs
The former real estate agent spent six months behind bars on a child grooming charge, but found himself back before a court last year for failing to comply with reporting obligations under the child protection register. He was placed on a two-year conditional release order as punishment.
Helen Andrews
A one-time real estate agent who was sentenced to a community corrections order on charges of assaulting police and refusing to submit to a breath test. The court heard she kicked a cop in the throat and chest while being loaded into a police vehicle after she was stopped for driving erratically in Kogarah.
NO CONVICTIONS RECORDED
James Masselos
A property executive for commercial agents Knight Frank, Masselos escaped a criminal conviction in February this year after being caught buying cocaine and MDMA from a taxi driver outside Bondi Bowling Club.
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