A high-flying real estate agent has claimed he's being discriminated against because he's a migrant after NSW Fair Trading suspended his licence.
Deepak Bangarh, owner of DKB Real Estate in Bella Vista, north-west Sydney, has been suspended for 60 days while his sale price estimates are investigated.
NSW Fair Trading investigators claimed Mr Bangarh misrepresented selling prices, did not substantiate estimated selling prices, and was not passing on all offers of purchase to vendors, as required by law.
Mr Bangarh is ranked third nationwide in the Real Estate Business dealmakers award.
He told the Sydney Morning Herald he was being racially discriminated against, as jealous rivals try to take him down.
'I know I didn't do anything wrong,' Mr Bangarh said.
'I feel like I'm a victim of jealousy and discrimination as a migrant from other agents locally working against me.'
On the DKB website, Mr Bangarh is described as a people person and a 'great negotiator who provides dependable insights and knowledge'.
Deepak Bangarh has claimed he's being discriminated against because he's a migrant after NSW Fair Trading suspended his real estate licence
Deepak Bangarh is the owner of DKB Real Estate in Bella Vista, in north-west Sydney
The news comes after Quakers Hill agent Josh Tesolin had his real estate licence suspended six months ago by the Office of Fair Trading.
NSW Fair Trading claimed Mr Tesolin engaged in a laundry list of offences, including underquoting the selling price of more than 100 residential properties, dummy bidding at auctions, producing false documents for regulators, and using high-pressure sales tactics in breach of industry rules.
Underquoting is an illegal practice where agents intentionally advertise or quote property prices lower than their estimated selling price to attract buyers and generate higher interest.
Authorities allege the misconduct was not a one-off, but part of a pattern of repeated breaches of the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002.
When he was suspended, Mr Tesolin was Australia's top-ranked real estate agent, earning more than $9million in commissions in the previous financial year.
Mr Tesolin has previously rejected allegations he breached property laws.
He addressed the investigation publicly for the first time in a podcast interview with fellow agent Adrian Bo, released on May 28 last year.
He said the investigation had been 'going on for three years now'.
Josh Tesolin had his real estate licence suspended six months ago
'What are we being investigated for? Fair Trading came in, asked for files, we complied with the regulator,' Mr Tesolin said.
'Anything the regulator has asked, whether it be 500 files... three files... we have completely complied with the regulator at every single stage.'
Mr Tesolin has since left Ray White and relaunched his own real estate business.
In a separate matter, NSW Fair Trading also cancelled the real estate licence of Epping agent John Kim and disqualified him for five years for misappropriating around $300,000 of trust monies.
Investigators found that deposits of $86,000 from a Castle Hill property and $218,000 from a North Curl Curl property had been fraudulently removed from company accounts.
'The manipulation of estimated selling prices and the advertising of a property for less or more than its estimated selling price misleads consumers and vendors, and causes costs, delay and time wasted,' NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Natasha Mann said in a statement obtained by Daily Mail.
'NSW Fair Trading has taken disciplinary action against more than 50 real estate agents in the last 12 months, suspending and disqualifying licences to protect consumers. This has included for misappropriation of trust accounts, price misrepresentations including underquoting, and failure to submit trust accounts.'
Daily Mail contacted Mr Bangarh for comment.
