Fraudster Maria Carroll’s initial confession to her friends detailed

The former friend of a dodgy conveyancer who stole $5m of clients’ money and has been jailed has revealed what happened before the police were called.

Former Melbourne conveyancer Maria Carroll confessed her crime to her friend and real estate agent Renee Frost and her husband Craig Frost.

A jailed Melbourne conveyancer who swindled her clients of nearly $5m confessed her crime to a close friend and a real estate agent before police became involved, it has been revealed.

Maria Carroll was this week sentenced to four years’ and seven months’ jail for running a seven-year pyramid scheme that sucked millions from more than 45 clients — including one dying of cancer.

Wallan-based real estate agents Craig and Renee Frost met Carroll more than 10 years ago and believed the former conveyancer was a trustworthy and upstanding legal adviser, with the couple referring many of their clients to her.

Before her fraud came to light, Renee Frost said they considered Carroll to be a good friend and invited her over for dinner and even on special occasions like birthday parties and Mother’s Day.

Fraudster Maria Carroll confessed her crimes to her friend and real estate agents Craig and Renee Frost (pictured) who then went to police.

At the start of Covid, she said Carroll admitted that her business was financially struggling and asked the Frosts to appraise many of her homes as she was considering selling them.

“On May 19 2020, while we were appraising her home, Maree confessed to us that she had ‘Robbed Peter to pay Paul’. She said she had no way to settle upcoming settlements as she had illegally used money from her trust account,’’ she said.

“Even while confessing to a multitude of financial crimes and legal misconduct, she was still trying to coax two innocent victims to invest in her collapsing multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme.

“She forged my signature on documents she gave to one of her investors, leading some people to believe for a short time that I was part of her scheme. That was absolutely gutting.

“It was astounding and sickening to witness the level of deception and manipulation that she was capable of.”

Renee Frost said on the same night of her confession, she and her husband contacted police and later the fraud squad.

Most of Maria Carroll’s clients who invested substantial amounts of money to be invested with borrowers did not get their money back.

She said the mental and emotional toll Carroll’s offending has had upon them, both personally and professionally, was profound but they were just a drop in the ocean compared to the victims who suffered so much more financially at the hands of this low-life criminal.

“Every one of her victims has still been left wondering what happened to all that money. Her victims have waited for a longer amount of time to get justice than the time she will spend in jail,’’ she said.

“This sentence feels a slap in the face following the tiresome work police and victims have done to detail the extent of Maree’s crimes.”