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A former mortgage broker, who is currently being investigated for fraud, has fled the country, forcing officials to raise an airport alert.
WA-based former Mortgage Miracles broker Kate Thompson has been under investigation for the last 14 months for altering loan application forms and falsely inflating the incomes of borrowers in order to originate bigger loans.
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In late 2008, Ms Thompson's offices were raided by police after a string of her clients, predominantly retirees and lower-income earners, claimed their incomes had been falsely inflated on loan application forms, according to a report in The Australian.
They said the loans they were given – which allegedly were for the purpose of investing in other properties, many of them allegedly overpriced – were far too high for them to be able to meet loan repayments.
Separately, Ms Thompson allegedly raised about $5m from her clients, many of whom were Mormans, for a retirement-village style development called "Mormonville".
Ms Thompson has previously said she had "not misappropriated any funds" and had "never acted in the capacity of a real estate agent”.
Mortgage Miracles was liquidated in November 2008.
Yesterday, WA major fraud squad detective Ken Forster told The Australian that Ms Thompson left the country for Hong Kong.
Detective Forster said airports and ports had been placed on alert to contact WA police if she returned to Australia.
