Strata manager Jason Hext jailed as lights go out in unit block
Domain Australia
Jimmy Thomson
10 April 2015
A corrupt strata manager’s dodgy dealings, salting away tens of
thousands of dollars of his clients’ cash, were discovered when the
lights went out on one of the unit blocks he looked after.
The power company had cut off the electricity
The power company had cut off the electricity after Jason Christopher
Hext, of Strataco Strata Pty Ltd, had transferred the owners
corporation funds into his personal accounts rather than paying their
utility bills.
Hext defrauded his clients of more than $67,000 over a six-month
period. On Wednesday he was sentenced at the Parramatta Local
Court to 12 months in jail.
the second strata manager to be jailed
Hext is the second strata manager to be jailed in NSW in the past eight
months. In September last year Rachael Kwawegen, 39, the co-founder of
boutique strata company The Strata Agency, was sentenced to 15 months
in prison for stealing more than $1 million from the apartment and
business owners whose buildings she looked after.
NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe welcomed the Hext verdict:
“This prosecution sends a stark warning to traders who think they can
flout the rules and take advantage of consumers – the law will catch up
with you,” Mr Stowe said.
“This case involved the blatant misappropriation of funds by an
individual which ended up in a building being without power, rubbish
collection, cleaning services or fire services, putting all of the
tenants, some of whom were elderly, at real and significant risk.
“Mr Hext paid himself monthly management fees well in excess of what
was agreed and for a number of months paid himself a monthly fee three
times over the course of the month. He also paid his wife fees for
purported business activity statements preparation and auditing, none
of which took place.”
Hext was sentenced to 12 months in jail, with a non-parole period of
seven months. He has also been banned from operating as a real estate
agent until 2022. He has appealed the severity of the sentence which is
set down for hearing on April 29 in the Parramatta District Court.
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