Money for Living director pleads guilty

Money for Living director Gary O’Neill of Elwood Victoria pleaded guilty to two dishonesty charges in connection with the reverse mortgages he sold to elderly home owners in the County Court yesterday.

O’Neill admitted that he obtained mortgages from a financier totalling almost $1 million by submitting loan applications that failed to disclose the life tenancies attached to the mortgaged properties.

He also admitted that the business method involved purchasing property at a discounted rate, as opposed to market rate, from the elderly and allowing them to remain in the property until they died.

Stephen O’Neill, who has pleaded not guilty to four counts of dishonestly using his position as an officer of a corporation, will stand trial on 2 June, 2008.

Gary O’Neill is yet to be sentenced.

The criminal charges follow a successful civil proceeding brought by the Australian Securities and Investments commission last year that found that Money for Living made false and misleading statements in its brochure, on its website and in agreements with vendors.