HENRY KAYE FACES JAIL
14th December 2005
HENRY KAYE FACES JAIL
Finally, criminal fraud charges laid.
Former get-rich spruiker, Henry Kaye is facing up to ten years in jail after being charged with criminal fraud.
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) charged Kaye by way of a summons which was served yesterday afternoon by officers of the Australian Securities and Investments Commissions (ASIC) on Kaye's solicitor, Lewis Janover.
The charges relate to the use of deposit bonds to obtain more than $17 million in finance from the St George Bank for a St Kilda development project. According to ASIC, Kaye dishonestly obtained a financial advantage through deception.
But that was Henry Kaye's style - tell a lie and get some money. Tell more lies, get more money. And not just lies to financiers, but lies to consumers, lies to staff, lies to journalists, lies to investigators. As thousands of consumers, who collectively lost tens of millions of dollars, discovered, Henry Kaye did not discriminate when it came to deception.
Until his company, the National Investment Institute, collapsed in November 2003, Kaye had been on a national rip-off rampage.
Despite making wild and absurd financial claims (including that his methods were "government approved") and despite a barrage of consumer complaints, the authorities took little notice of him.
It wasn't until Kaye brazenly claimed that one of his schemes had "ASIC approval" that the regulatory and media spotlight was turned on him. Although both ASIC and the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) took action against him and although Kaye was clearly found to have been deceptive, there were no criminal charges laid until yesterday.
In the property and finance world, dishonesty is rarely taken seriously. Sadly, it's not until consumers lose millions of dollars that any serious action is taken by government regulators.
While it is good news to see a property spruiker face criminal charges, it will be even better news in the future if action is taken before consumers lose their money.
Spruikers aren't hard to spot.
There are plenty more - including former cronies of Henry Kaye (such as George Mihos) - who are still fleecing plenty of consumers.
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This news article was taken from the News page of the Jenman website.
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