Former mortgage broker jailed for deception
Former mortgage broker, Michael Samra, has today been sentenced to eight years and nine months imprisonment after pleading guilty to six charges of deception, with a minimum of four years and six months to be served before becoming eligible for parole.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) alleged that between 1 January 2009 and 31 July 2009, Samra through ALC Group deceived investors to lend money to be on-lent to builders and property developers on a short-term basis, when the monies were in fact not on-lent, and dishonestly benefited the company or another party.
Samra pleaded guilty to six charges of deception totalling $1.902 million and was sentenced at Adelaide District Court.
The firm collapsed in 2009 with liabilities of approximately $40 million. ASIC investigations found that approximately $66 million came into the firm’s bank account over a seven-month period with the majority of funds paid to investors.
Samra appeared before Adelaide Magistrates Court on 12 charges of deception totalling $12 million in 2015 for operating the Ponzi scheme with promises of high returns on investments of up to 48 per cent per annum.
The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
AUTHOR
Malavika Santhebennur
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