ASIC: Former finance broker pleads guilty to fraud
ASIC has issued an announcement informing the investors the following:
A former finance broker has admitted to stealing the identities of former clients so she could buy two cars, sell them to acquaintances and keep the cash from the sale.
Riyanka Puteri Shiraz, of Canterbury, New South Wales, appeared before Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on 25 March 2014 and pleaded guilty to two fraud charges. She faces a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment for each charge.
The fraud occurred between December 2011 and October 2012 when Ms Shiraz worked as a business manager with finance broker We R Finance Pty Ltd. The business placed its staff in motor dealerships to help the dealers’ customers obtain finance to buy cars.
An ASIC investigation found Ms Shiraz, 22, used tax, employment and income documents and personal details of two former clients to create false loan applications in their names, without the clients’ knowledge or consent. The applications were submitted to a lender which approved the loans and Ms Shiraz used the money to buy the cars.
Following her court appearance, Ms Shiraz was granted conditional bail and committed to the District Court for sentencing on 4 April 2014.
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions is prosecuting this matter.
Source: ASIC
