Adviser pleads guilty to $314,000 fraud
A formerAMPadviser has pleaded guilty to 23 charges laid by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
ASIC alleges that Laurence John Tobin obtained $314,000 from investors under false pretences with intent to defraud.
ASIC says Tobin obtained the money from investors supposedly to invest in a scheme called the Twinelles Mortgage Reserve Fund. However, according to ASIC, the scheme never existed and Tobin used the money for his own benefit.
Tobin was an adviser with the funds management giant for 26 years, from 1970 to 1996. He was declared a bankrupt in November 1996, according to the securities watchdog.
After being declared a bankrupt, Tobin then left AMP and continued to act as an adviser, while his clients no longer knew that his association with AMP was no longer in place, and continued to entrust him with the management of their financial affairs.
According to an ASIC media spokesperson, Tobin obtained the $314,000 from investors from 1994 to 1998.
Tobin will be sentenced in the Downing Centre Local Court on July 19.
Recommended for you
Sequoia Financial Group has declined by five financial advisers in the past week, four of whom have opened up a new AFSL, according to Wealth Data.
Insignia Financial chief executive Scott Hartley has detailed whether the firm will be selecting an exclusive bidder for the second phase of due diligence as it awaits revised bids from three private equity players.
Insignia Financial has reported a statutory net loss after tax of $17 million in its first half results, although the firm has noted cost optimisation means this is an improvement from a $50 million loss last year.
With alternative funds being described as “impossible” for fund managers to target towards advisers without the support of BDMs for education, Money Management explores the evolving nature of the distribution role.
