Unique Estates

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The luxury real estate agent Nicolette van Wijngaarden has pleaded guilty to real estate trust fund fraud.
She will be sentenced next month at the Sydney Downing Centre.
Van Wijngaarden founded Unique Estates in 2009 which specialized in luxury property, particularly around Byron Bay, before the boutique agency expanded across the country.
Fashion designer Collette Dinnigan was caught up in the messy February 2018 collapse of the Unique Estates Australia agency following the sale of her NSW South Coast property.
The 5 percent deposit for Dinnigan's Milton $2.1 million was unaccounted for, with the NSW Fair Trading Department stepped in cover the $105,000 deposit that Vaucluse buyers had paid into the trust fund.
All NSW vendors are covered by the Property Services Compensation Fund.
After the company collapsed in February 2018, van Wijngaarden faced charges following an investigation by forensic accountants.
She faces up to 10 years in prison having allegedly misused $3.69 million.
Her bail included her surrendering her two passports under strict bail conditions.
The agency published the magazine Unique Luxury, which was distributed in Qantas lounges across the country.  
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The agency collapsed with restructuring specialists McGrathNicol app­ointed as joint managers by the NSW Department of Fair Trading.
NSW Fair Trading and McGrathNicol reported to creditors that there were "insufficient funds to pay amounts outstanding and in these circumstances there is a statutory compensation fund that may cover your outstanding claims.”
This article was first published in the Daily Telegraph.
 
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Estate agent Nicolette van Wijngaarden pleads guilty to trust fund fraud

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The former director of a collapsed Byron Bay-based luxury real estate agency, Nicolette van Wijngaarden has been ordered to surrender her two passports under strict bail conditions.
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The real estate agent specialising in luxury properties has been charged with 15 fraud offences after she allegedly misused $3.69 million.
Nicolette van Wijngaarden, 44, was the director of Unique Estates, a boutique real estate agency now under liquidation which specialised in selling multi-million dollar properties in NSW, Victoria and Queensland.
She is accused of fraudulently dealing with home deposits paid to her company.
Ms van Wijngarden is also accused of "falsely representing" that $1,165,876 from rental properties would remain in the Unique Estates trust account until the money was paid to the property owners.
The charges span from May 2016 to February 2018.
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According to court documents, the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions took over the case in September.
Ms van Wijngaarden was excused from attending Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court when the case was mentioned yesterday.
It is set to return to the Sydney Downing Centre Local Court on January 31 when Ms van Wijngaarden is also excused from appearing on that date. 
She has had to hand in both her Australian and Dutch passports as a condition of bail.
She is forbidden from entering any international airport or other point of departure from Australia.
She is also required to report to St Kilda police station once a week, given she now resides in Elwood.
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Unique Estate's Nicolette van Wijngaarden ordered to surrender passports

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The founder of Unique Estates, Nicolette van Wijngaarden, faces up to 10 years jail if found guilty of the fraud charges following the collapse of her national estate agency.
The 15 charges were laid after an investigation by forensic accountants.
The NSW Department of Finance told The Echo, her local Byron Bay newspaper, that Ms van Wijngaarden, 44, was currently on bail, due to appear for mention in Sydney’s Downing Centre local court on November 8.
It was front page news today in the town newspaper.
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The 44-year-old faces five counts under section 211(2) of the Property, Stock and Business Agents Act 2002, allegations that relate to fraudulently converting money from a business for a person’s own individual use.
Ms Winjgaarden is also facing 10 charges of fraud under the NSW Crimes Act 1900.
The Department of Finance said the total quantum of money involved in all charges alleged is in excess of $3.5 million.
Unique Estates was founded by Ms van Wijngaarden in Byron Bay in 2009 as a boutique agency dealing with luxury properties.
It expanded significantly in the ensuing years to include offices in Albert Park, Double Bay, the Gold Coast, Melbourne, and Hong Kong.
The agency published the magazine Unique Luxury, which was distributed in Qantas lounges across the country.
<a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/80669-nicolette-van-wijngaarden-very-sorry-unique-estates-placed-into-liquidation" target="_blank">The agency collapsed</a> in February.
<a href="https://www.urban.com.au/news/85240-ato-owed-933-000-after-unique-estates-australia-collapse" target="_blank">The ATO</a> emerged among the biggest creditors.
"Bank accounts are frozen and there are no funds," was the blunt message to staff as McGrath Nicol was appointed joint managers by the NSW Department of Fair Trading
The agency had won a string of awards over the years including the Best Real Estate Agency Website for Asia Pacific 2017-2018 at the International Property Awards Grand Final Ceremony held in London.
It is not the first time a high-flying Byron agent has been caught up in trust account issues.
The now defunct Byron Bay real estate agency Belle Property was the subject of an earlier investigation by the Department of Fair Trading.
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