LJ Hooker agents hit out at boss Judy Thanh Truc over business collapse

Staff members of six LJ Hooker offices have hit out at their boss who is at the centre of a probe into millions of dollars missing from the company trust fund.

Agents employed by Judy Thanh Truc, who operated offices at Glen Waverley, Keysborough, Burwood, Box Hill, Doncaster and Mount Waverley with her husband, Joseph Ngo, say several staff gave Ms Truc large sums of money after she claimed there were financial difficulties following her separation from her husband.

After the money – in one case alleged to be $100,000 – was paid, Ms Truc announced she and Mr Ngo had reconciled, one agent claimed.

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About 110 vendors, buyers, landlords and tenants are among those caught up in the Consumer Affairs Victoria probe launched last week after irregularities were noticed in the franchise’s trust fund.

One of the agents said Ms Truc and Mr Ngo last month asked him to reconcile bank statements for the sales trust accounts which he claimed showed deficiencies.

“I refused to have any involvement,” the agent, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. “A couple of days later, I was sacked for not complying.”

“They were panicked,” he said of his employers, who he claims asked him to “fix” the bank statements “so they worked” ahead of an impending audit by LJ Hooker’s head office.

“They asked me to do stuff that was very illegal. At that point, I turned on them and said ‘absolutely not’.”

Several agents told Fairfax Media that days before the collapse of her LJ Hooker empire, Ms Truc told them she planned to hand back the licence to head office and rebrand her business under her own name.

Many agents say a failure to pay them their commission has left them severely out of pocket and they may take legal action to recover it. Others are said to be further in debt after lending Ms Truc considerable sums of money after she suggested the business was facing financial trouble.

“I’m very, very concerned that I’m not going to see that money ever again,” one agent said. “It was supposed to be a one-month, short-term loan. She hasn’t said she won’t pay it back, but obviously, with what’s going on it doesn’t look good.”

“I feel betrayed. We were all employees who have gone up and above trying to help her, and unbeknown to all of us, this other stuff was going on behind the scenes. None of us had any idea … we were just there to do our jobs.”

Another agent, who said she lent Ms Truc $40,000, said she could not afford to take the matter to court.

Others are furious at the perception they have done wrong.

“We have done absolutely nothing wrong,” one said. “We worked our butts off, to be honest. Some of the staff haven’t paid been paid for a few months.

“I’ve been selling a lot of houses without getting paid commission, even six months after the house sold.”

An administrator has been appointed and Consumer Affairs Victoria continues to investigate. Police on Sunday would say only that the matter was being handled by Consumer Affairs.

The agents fear they may never see their money again, unlike vendors and landlords who may be covered by the Victorian Property Fund.

Affected staff have been invited to a head office meeting on Friday and alternative employment options may be offered.

A spokeswoman for LJ Hooker’s head office said the company’s first priority was its customers and its people.

Ms Truc said on Sunday that her lawyer had advised her not to speak further to the media. On Saturday she had claimed to be the victim of an elaborate hacking hoax.

“I’m not hiding, I’m not running away,” the 41-year-old with a $4.6 million property portfolio said via text message on Saturday. “Someone set me up.”

Mr Ngo was contacted for comment on Sunday but his voicemail was full and not accepting any new messages.