On 28 August 2020, former Get Approved Finance broker Mr Eric-John Larry Pryor appeared before the Perth Magistrates Court and was charged with twelve offences including five counts of giving false and misleading information, two counts of forgery, two counts of uttering a forged record, two counts of fraud and one count of inducing a debtor to make a false or misleading declaration.

The charges relate to four motor vehicle finance contracts brokered by Mr Pryor between January 2013 and February 2013.

The matter was adjourned to 9 October 2020. 

The Court granted bail to Mr Pryor on condition of a personal undertaking of $500.

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions is prosecuting the matter. 

Background

In July 2015, ASIC permanently banned Mr Pryor and a former Get Approved Finance colleague from engaging in credit activities and providing financial services (15-189MR).

At the time of the conduct, Get Approved Finance was the trading name and operated under the Australian credit licence of West Australian-based finance broker Jeremy (WA) Pty Ltd. The company was deregistered in September 2017.

A number of other former Get Approved Finance brokers were banned by ASIC from both the credit and financial services industry (15-374MR, 16-116MR, 16-132MR).

In October 2015, ANZ agreed to compensate more than 70 borrowers for car loans organised by Get Approved Finance (15-312MR).

On 5 July 2018, Mr Peter Lachlan McDonald, who was also a former Get Approved Finance broker, was sentenced in the Perth Magistrates’ Court to 21 months’ imprisonment which was fully suspended for 12 months upon Mr McDonald paying a $5,000 bond to the Court. The sentence took into account Mr McDonalds’s guilty plea (18-207MR).  

Editor's note:

On 9 October 2020, the matter was adjourned to a trial allocation date on 22 December 2020.

Editor's note 2:

The trial allocation date has been adjourned to 23 February 2021.

Editor's note 3:

The trial allocation date has been adjourned to 8 June 2021.

Editor's note 4:

The trial has been listed for 6-9 September 2021 in the Perth Magistrates Court.