What the cat dragged in

Long criminal record? Why not become an Australian mortgage broker today – and join a lucrative industry soon to be even more glamorised in new feature film!

Judging by Richard Pusey’s long criminal record, including jail time in 2008, there appears to be few, if any, industry standards as to becoming – or continuing as – a self-employed mortgage broker.  Richard Pusey apparently ran his own mortgage broking business, Switch Now Home Loans, until about July 2019. 

Why he left it then is unclear, but just today his lawyer, as part of making a case for Pusey’s bail, claimed that Pusey had “stable work” [same URL] – I’m guessing still as a mortgage broker of some sort. 

But in any event – and even prior to Pusey’s raft of charges arising from the Eastern Freeway tragedy (which are, of course, yet to be heard by a court) – there is enough of a Pusey rap-sheet to damn Australia’s mortgage broking industry for its acceptance of the serial criminal Pusey within their ranks, and particularly for their apparent deafening silence, in recent weeks, over Pusey’s association with their industry. 

Hey guys, exactly what crimes – if any – might cause someone to lose their credentials as a mortgage broker?  Or are such matters usually not dealt with by “public auction”, but are negotiable by “private sale”, at the right price?

One outcome of the Eastern Freeway tragedy is that there is now absolutely no need for an Australian version or adaptation of Brett Easton Ellis’ “American Psycho” (and sorry screenwriters, if you’ve been working on or shopping a fictional such script around). 

I suggest that “Australian Psycho” (as documentary or as thinly-disguised fiction) has already just about written itself. Richard Pusey’s life and career just needs a bit more detail – including as to his mortgage broker and (apparently) Australian Federal Police mates – but I assume that these requisite supporting characters (and enablers) will come out in the court case.