Disgraced Warilla realtor Megan Harrod is staring down the barrel of a lengthy jail sentence after she was found to have fleeced hundreds of thousands of dollars from her family's real estate agency to feed an insatiable gambling habit.
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NSW District Court judge Andrew Colefax said Harrod, the ex-wife of NRL great Kevin Hastings and mother of Roosters playmaker Jackson Hastings, was facing "a substantial period of imprisonment" after admitting to stealing money from trust funds linked to her company, Harrod's Real Estate, between 2010 and 2012.
Harrod used the money to support her multimillion-dollar gambling addiction, which saw her pour upwards of $10 million through poker machines at Wests Illawarra and the Shellharbour Club over a seven-year period, including the years she was swindling from the company.
Club records reveal she won $9.1 million during the same period.
NSW Fair Trading alleges Harrod siphoned $1.5 million from her family's company in scores of transactions between 2010 and 2012; Harrod claims the amount was closer to $500,000.
The $1 million difference is the subject of a three-day court hearing in Parramatta, which began with preliminary arguments on Monday afternoon.
The prosecution is expected to call at least two witnesses to support its financial findings - the senior investigator on the case and a forensic accountant who reviewed the agency's records after the fraud was discovered.
Defence lawyers indicated they would not call any evidence, instead relying on cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses to make their case for the lesser figure.
A statement of facts tendered to the court said Harrod's fraudulent run was eventually halted by her father, Jim Harrod, who reported his daughter's crimes to Fair Trading in early 2012.
Harrod pleaded guilty in December 2013 to two charges of fraudulently converting money as a licensee, relating to money taken from the company's rent trust account and sales trust account.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years each.
In court on Monday, Harrod's lawyers said their client admitted to the $65,500 figure attributed to the sales account, but disputed Fair Trading's suggestion that $1.46 million was missing from the rent trust.
Harrod's offending largely revolved around the use of cash cheques that were deposited in the bank accounts of several landlords, with claims that Harrod used this system to transfer money into her own accounts.
The hearing continues.