Former LJ Hooker agent Tri Duc Ngo spent stolen money on jewels, drugs: court told
A FORMER LJ Hooker agent funded a lavish lifestyle and drug habit by splashing millions of dollars of stolen clients’ money, a court has heard.
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A FORMER LJ Hooker agent funded a lavish lifestyle and drug habit with millions of dollars of stolen clients’ money, a court has heard.
Tri Duc Ngo, who also goes by Joseph Ngo, pleaded guilty to 48 charges related to raiding trust accounts of more than $6 million in the County Court.
Mr Ngo splashed stolen cash at high-end jewellery stores including Swarovski and Tiffany & Co — including a purchase of about $110,000 at the latter, the court was told.
FORMER LJ HOOKER AGENT ACCUSED OF STEALING $6M
A victim impact statement read out in court detailed one vendor in Melbourne’s outer east left more than $100,000 out of pocket after the deposit for the sale of their house was taken.
That amount was paid by the Victorian Property Fund, which has forked out more than $2 million in relation to the case to date.
The seller “felt hopeless” and suffered “very serious insomnia” as a result, according to their statement.
Mr Ngo told investigators he spent money taken on household bills, “general spending” and his ice addiction — which had blurred his sense of reality, the court heard.
Robyn Harper, for the Office of Public Prosecutions, told the court on one occasion Mr Ngo moved $41,010, taken from a $54,500 house deposit, from a trust account into a general account before making several withdrawals in Glen Waverley.
In another example given, a buyer was told to transfer a $700,000 deposit for 10 units into an ANZ general account — rather than the trust account.
Mr Ngo also indicated a guilty plea in relation to seven summary offences which breached restrictions on sales when an agent has a “beneficial interest.”
The court heard Mr Ngo had done deals for properties with colleagues at the agency he worked for, without disclosing the relationship to the vendor.
The maximum penalty for each of Mr Ngo’s 48 charges relating to fraudulently converting money for his own use is 10 years imprisonment or 500 penalty units, the court heard, and two years imprisonment or 240 penalty units for the seven summary offences.
Erol Cinar, for Mr Ngo, told the court his client suffered from mental health issues and his psychiatrist would be called as a witness.
Mr Ngo previously pleaded guilty to 163 charges under the Estate Agents Act 1980 in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, but some have been rolled into one and others withdrawn.
His wife and co-accused Truc Thanh Le Nguyen — also known as Judy Thanh Truc and Judy Nguyen — will stand trial in 2019, facing 345 charges of her own.
Ms Nguyen pleaded not guilty to her charges in the Magistrates’ Court last week.
The pair are accused of plundering trust accounts and stealing house deposits of clients of six LJ Hooker offices in Melbourne’s east — of which Ms Nguyen was the director and her husband an employee — in 2015-16.
Judge Michael Bourke adjourned today adjourned the hearing to allow for a report to be prepared by a forensic psychiatrist on the link between a mental illness suffered by Tri Duc Ngo — also known as Joseph Ngo — and his offending.
Mr Ngo’s psychiatrist Matthew Gelman told the court his patient of 17 months had schizoaffective disorder, and suffered “psychotic, delusional type of thinking and experience.”
The court also heard Mr Ngo had used drugs including methamphetamine and heroin, which had “exacerbated” his illness.
Mr Ngo has pleaded guilty to 48 charges related to misappropriating trust account money of clients of six former LJ Hooker offices in Melbourne’s east in 2015 and 2016.
He will return to court in a fortnight.