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A broker has told a court that he dishonestly used money from new clients to help existing customers meet their mortgage payments.
Malcolm Royce Jones, 52, of Woodville North, has already admitted stealing $170,000 in an earlier appearance in Adelaide’s District Court.
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His lawyer, Andrew Moffa, told the court yesterday that Mr Jones was a "hardworking, Christian father of three" who wanted to keep his clients happy, according to the ABC.
Mr Moffa said some of Mr Jones’ investor clients had struggled to make their mortgage repayments after being hit hard by the GFC.
He said Mr Jones had wanted to give those investors a “payments holiday” by using money from new clients to make their repayments.
"A lot of the borrowers were not paying their mortgage payments to the lenders, so [he] robbed Peter to pay Paul,” Mr Moffa said.
Mr Moffa said Mr Jones had kept hoping the market would improve but "rather than being a short-term blip ... it got worse and worse".
"Rather than try to be a friend to everybody ... he should have stood back and let the GFC cause its havoc to both sets of clients."
Mr Jones is due to be sentenced in September, but the prosecutor said more charges were expected after Mr Jones admitted to more offences, according to the ABC.
[Related: Broker banned for $243,000 fraud]
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