Real estate agent Anthony Brancatella jailed for fraud

An eastern suburbs real estate agent will spend more than three years behind bars for defrauding homeowners and buyers of nearly $2 million.

Anthony Vito Brancatella was sentenced to 40 months in prison on Wednesday after admitting to converting clients’ money for his own purposes in 62 separate property deals.

He siphoned money from his agency’s trust account between December 2013 and June 2014, the County Court heard.

The 62 charges, to which Brancatella pleaded guilty, amounted to $1,999,020.

He will be eligible for parole after 20 months.

Defence barrister Rob Melasecca had earlier told the court that Brancatella, 43, used the funds to keep his ailing businesses afloat.

Brancatella was found out after Consumer Affairs launched an audit of the former director of McDonald Real Estate in Mulgrave and Wheelers Hill in mid-2014, following several complaints.

Judge Carolyn Douglas described the crimes as “white collar offending” and “robbing Peter to pay Paul” but accepted that Brancatella had not taken the money to live a lavish lifestyle.

Most of Brancatella’s victims had suffered financial loss of around $30,000 and some no longer trusted real estate agents, she said.

Each had gone through a period of angst and anxiety and some still suffered.

Brancatella had access to accounts but was also in a position to tell office staff to follow orders, such as converting cheques to cash, and took steps to avoid detection, including falsifying section 32 documents, the court heard.

“Unfortunately your offending can tarnish all of those working in the real estate industry,” Judge Douglas said.

Brancatella was a successful real estate agent before debts mounted, the judge said.

He borrowed $1 million to launch his business in 2012, plus $600,000 for a new home and owed the tax office $250,000, including unpaid GST.

It was then that “cracks started to appear”.

“Unfortunately, under pressure, you made extremely irresponsible business decisions,” Judge Douglas said.

Brancatella then decided to convert his clients’ funds for business expenses, but the judge accepted that he intended to repay the money.

The court was told Brancatella’s wife was under the wrong impression that his business was going well, and so another property was purchased and renovations planned.

Judge Douglas said Brancatella was remorseful and had acted out of character, and was in a “worsening financial predicament” when the defrauding occurred.

More than $500,000 in compensation has been paid to 12 of his victims through the Victorian Property Fund and Brancatella had personally reimbursed more than $390,986.

In his favour was that he had offered to repay clients and was “otherwise a decent man”, Judge Douglas said.

She said he had lost the respect of fellow real estate agents and the Italian community.

Brancatella’s mother is refinancing three properties, including her own home in Lower Templestowe, and borrowing $500,000 to repay her son’s debts, the court heard.

Brancatella’s license to practice as a real estate agent was revoked in March last year.