Real estate agent Jayeshkumar Patel in court over $500k fraud

After gambling away his life savings, a once-successful Point Cook real estate agent conned his clients out of $553k to sink more money at Crown.

Point Cook-based realtor Jayeshkumar Patel tricked his former clients into giving him $550,000 which he used to fund his gambling addiction.

A Point Cook-based real estate business owner who blew more than $2m on pokie machines, including $553,776 that he swindled from former clients, was nabbed while playing at Crown Casino.

Jayeshkumar Patel, of Religare Real Estate, gambled his life savings, refinanced his Point Cook home, borrowed from family and friends before duping five former clients into buying blocks of land to be on-sold for a profit.

The 45-year-old was jailed by the County Court on Wednesday for three years and four months after pleading guilty to five charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception.

Between January 1 and June 30, 2023 Patel contacted his previous clients and offered them the opportunity to buy blocks of land at Wyndham Vale and Clyde and obtained $553,776 from five people.

Patel’s first victim, Saidahemad Diwan, contributed $83,500 towards the purchase of a land at Clyde after he was told he’d receive a 25 per cent profit once the land was on-sold.

Jayeshkumar Patel blew more than $2m gambling at Crown Casino before police charged him with obtaining a financial advantage by deception.

Judge Peter Rozen said in his victim impact statement, Mr Diwan expressed grief, frustration and stress and said his marriage was in trouble.

Another victim, Rajinder Singh, lost $54,000 and was forced to sell his family home and move into a rental property.

Hiren Kumar Saksena gave Patel 134,700 which was he and his partner’s life savings.

Patel also obtained $256,576 from another former client on the pretext of arranging the sale of land at Wyndham Vale.

Judge Rozen said Patel established his real estate business in 2018 and was successful until the end of 2021, earning up to $40,000 a month.

He said in September 2018, Patel was introduced to gambling when a friend visiting from India wanted to go to Crown Casino.

“Gambling became a weekly escape for you and by the end of 2019, you were attending Crown Casino on a daily basis.

‘Your gambling addiction led to your own financial ruin when you refinanced your own family home to fund your habit,” Judge Rozen said.

He said inquiries with Crown Casino revealed that between January 2020 and August 2023, Patel had lost $2.3m on gaming machines.

At 6.30am on August 17, 2023, he was arrested while playing at Crown Casino and taken to Werribee police station where he admitted his offending.

He told police that he attended Crown Casino every day for three years, his victims trusted him blindly and that his father in India would sell his property in order for him to pay back money he fraudulently obtained.

Patel will be eligible for parole in two years.