Josh Tesolin, the former star Ray White real estate agent who banked more than $9 million in commissions last financial year, has been slapped with a decade-long ban from the industry.
The penalty, which also include fines totalling $33,000, is one of the harshest imposed by the industry regulator in recent years. It comes on the back of a three-year investigation that unearthed findings that he engaged in sustained unlawful, improper and dishonest conduct on more than 100 property transactions.
NSW Fair Trading announced the statewide ban on Thursday evening, specifying claims that Tesolin was involved in underquoting, advertising properties below their estimated selling price and directing employees to falsify documents provided to the regulator.
It is a spectacular turnaround in Tesolin’s high-profile career from just nine months ago, when he was ranked the highest-earning real estate agent across the Ray White network, racking up a raft of top sales awards and accolades for his sales tactics and record-high commissions.
It was Tesolin’s high-earning commissions that first cast aspersions over his business practice. An investigation by this masthead last July revealed that his commissions were fuelled by a dodgy, incentivised commission scheme in which clients were charged tens of thousands of dollars extra by way of a last-minute incentive payment.
The scheme was detailed in a leaked team SMS chat shared by the broader Tesolin office, and detailed how Tesolin could turbocharge his commissions to a total of $420,000 in one day.
Ray White initially stood by its star agent, but a few weeks later announced the mutual termination of its franchise agreement with Tesolin and his Quakers Hill office in Sydney’s north-west.
The next day Tesolin relaunched his real estate business under the NGU banner, which is part of the Brisbane-based NGU agency run by his friend and now business associate Emil Juresic.
Fair Trading has not only banned Tesolin from the industry until 2036, but also disqualified his private real estate company, Tesolin Consulting Pty Ltd, from operating in the industry for 10 years. Tesolin was also fined $11,000, and the consulting company issued a $22,000 punishment.
The bans are to take immediate effect, although Tesolin and Tesolin Consulting have the right to seek a review of the disciplinary decisions.
“Real estate agents are trusted with some of the most significant financial decisions and transactions people make,” Fair Trading Minister Anoulack Chanthivong said.
“When an agent deliberately misleads consumers, falsifies records and undermines regulatory oversight, we must take strong action – and that’s exactly what NSW Fair Trading has done.
“This outcome sends a clear signal to others contemplating similar conduct: that it will not be tolerated, and you will be caught.”
There was no response from Tesolin ahead of publication, but he has previously rejected suggestions that he has breached any of the relevant property laws.
Tesolin publicly responded to the controversy in a podcast last week with his preferred auctioneer Adrian Bo, saying, “I very much look at it glass half full. I’ve got a beautiful family. I’ve got lots of money, lots of good friends. I’ve got a great legal team as well.
“I don’t feel hatred. Even journalists that write erroneous articles … I feel bad for them … they need Jesus.”
Tesolin was initially suspended by Fair Trading last August amid allegations of dummy bidding, underquoting, high-pressure sales tactics and producing false documents to Fair Trading.
Since then, Tesolin has already pivoted his real estate career ambitions, launching a coaching business called Peak Mentoring aimed at training a new generation of agents in his tricks of the trade.
His Bentley Bentayga was sold last year after being advertised for $260,000, and the family home in Bella Vista has been rented. Two of Tesolin’s 11 investment properties have been sold.
Fair Trading’s disciplinary action on Tesolin comes following an investigation by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Bidding Blind, into what has been revealed to be industrial-scale underquoting across Sydney and Melbourne’s auction markets.
Lucy Macken is an investigative reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.