Adviser jailed for eight years
The eight-year jail sentence handed down to a Cairns adviser on the weekend sends a strong message to the financial services community, according to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
The co-director of Cairns-based accounting practice Drury Management Pty Ltd Piet, Cornelius Walters, was jailed for eight years after he was found guilty of using over $900,000 of investors’ funds for his own purposes.
ASIC executive director of enforcement Jan Redfern said the penalty inflicted on Walters sends a message to the community that those who misuse investor funds would be punished.
“When people invest their funds with a professional they do so in good faith and place a high degree of trust in that person. Those who blatantly abuse the trust of their clients and act dishonestly will not be tolerated and will be pursued with the full force of the law,” Redfern said.
Walters was convicted and sentenced in relation to 14 charges of dishonesty involving over $972,000 in relation to the provision of financial services to 10 clients.
Walters ran Drury Management from 1999 to 2003.
Walters, a Dutch citizen, arrived in Australia in June 2001. It is believed Walters, who is also known as Fred Siebolt Hofman, is also wanted on a Canada-wide arrest warrant relating to 31 counts of theft and 30 counts of fraud committed between 1986 and 1991 involving approximately CAD$9.7 million.
In other news, the Supreme Court of Queensland has ordered two Queensland men to stop operating an unregistered managed investment scheme.
Permanent injunctions have been placed on Maxwell Donald Collins and Philip James Trudgeon restraining them from further promoting or operating the unregistered managed investments scheme conducted by the 17 companies known as the Intertax Group.
The order also restrains Collins and Trudgeon from further promoting or operating any other managed investment scheme that is required to be registered under the Corporations Act.
On August 25, 2006, liquidators were appointed to wind-up the members of the Intertax Group. At that time, Palmer was also permanently banned from providing financial advice.
The court has ordered that Collins and Trudgeon assist the liquidators of companies in the Intertax Group in the winding up of the scheme.
Recommended for you
The FSCP has announced its latest verdict, suspending an adviser’s registration for failing to comply with his obligations when providing advice to three clients.
Having sold Madison to Infocus earlier this year, Clime has now set up a new financial advice licensee with eight advisers.
With licensees such as Insignia looking to AI for advice efficiencies, they are being urged to write clear AI policies as soon as possible to prevent a “Wild West” of providers being used by their practices.
Iress has revealed the number of clients per adviser that top advice firms serve, as well as how many client meetings they conduct each week.
