Brisbane-based and former Aussie Home Loans broker Madvhan Nair appeared in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court this week and pleaded guilty to 18 charges brought by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.

According to the securities regulator, Nair has filed almost $5.6 million worth of mortgage applications using false employment history and inflated annual income of the applicants. The loans were worth between $10,000 and $490,000 and were made to Westpac, National Australia Bank, and ANZ. Twelve out of 18 applications were approved by the three banks in loans worth $3.72 million.

Though Nair only received $10,083 in commissions, he stood to benefit more from trailing fees earned over the life of the loans, which ranged between 20 and 30 years.

Aussie Home Loans said that it was not aware that Nair was being paid cash directly.

“Aussie strictly prohibits its brokers from receiving any direct payment from any lender, referral partner, or customer and was not aware of cash payments made by customers,” it said. “Aussie has a zero-tolerance policy to any infringements and believes it has one of the most stringent compliance processes and policies in the industry.”

Aussie Home Loans has already been hit with its third mortgage scandal within the year, following mortgage fraud convictions against former brokers Emma Feduniw last month and Shiv Prakash Sahay last year. However, a spokesman for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia—the only major bank not hit by the counterfeit deals—said the bank is confident that Aussie Home Loans’ mortgage compliance systems are strong despite three of its brokers being charged in the past year.

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