Ex-LJ Hooker franchisee Judy Nguyen pleads guilty to 11 wrongful conversion charges

A former LJ Hooker franchisee has pleaded guilty to misappropriating more than $800,000 of clients’ money.

Judy Nguyen and Joseph Ngo, formerly of LJ Hooker, outside the Melbourne Magistrates' Court.

A former LJ Hooker franchisee has pleaded guilty to misappropriating more than $800,000 of clients’ money.

Truc Thanh Le Nguyen, also known as Judy Nguyen, told the County Court on Monday she was guilty of 11 counts of fraudulently converting to her own use sales deposits received from January to March 2016.

The deposits total $809,016 and relate to 11 home sales across Glen Waverley, Deer Park, Caroline Springs, Narre Warren, Berwick, Dandenong, Docklands and Parkdale.

They were received by her company, JNT Law Investments Pty Ltd, which traded as six LJ Hooker offices.

The offices in Glen Waverley, Mt Waverley, Keysborough, Box Hill, Doncaster and Burwood were shut down in April 2016, as the result of a Consumer Affairs Victoria investigation.

Ms Nguyen had faced 31 wrongful conversion charges for alleged offending from January 2015 to March 2016.

But her jury trial — expected to last about three weeks — came to an abrupt end on Friday, when Ms Nguyen opted to plead guilty to several of the charges against her.

The remaining 20 charges have been withdrawn.

The mother of four told the court she was studying online for a bachelor of theology, and living in Rowville.

Ms Nguyen’s husband and co-accused, Tri Duc Ngo, also known as Joseph Ngo, was jailed for five years in March 2018, after pleading guilty to 48 charges relating to the misappropriation of more than $6 million from sales and rental trust accounts in 2015 and 2016.

Mr Ngo fuelled a drug habit, and lavish jewellery and clothing purchases, with the money.

He was also ordered to pay $2.1 million compensation to cover costs paid out to victims.

Ms Nguyen’s defence initially told a County Court jury Mr Ngo had committed the crimes she was accused of without her knowledge, as she had stepped away from the real estate business due to a cancer diagnosis and the birth of her fourth child.

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Prosecutor John Saunders said Ms Nguyen had “a far greater knowledge of what was going on … than she told investigators”, as the “sole signatory” of the two Westpac ­accounts used in most of the transactions.

She was also JNT’s officer in effective control.

Ms Nguyen was bailed to reappear at court on Thursday.

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