Unlicensed Sydney adviser gaoled
A New South Wales man has been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for providing unlicensed advice.
Donald Maxwell pleaded guilty to operating a financial services business, Business Express Success Techniques, without an Australian Financial Services Licence after being discovered by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).
During June 2002 and June 2003, Maxwell raised $1.1 million from three elderly investors in Sydney and Newcastle in relation to property developments.
The 69-year-old came to know about the residential apartment blocks through a former associate and advertised in local papers for potential investors.
In 2004, the property development companies Central Development Group and Oceanwalk Projects were placed into liquidation.
The investors were unable to recover their funds.
ASIC said Maxwell was a discharged bankrupt who would probably declare bankruptcy once again, and it was unlikely the investors would receive compensation.
Maxwell will serve eight months by way of periodic detention and will be released upon entering into a bond of good behaviour for the remaining four months.
The court case commenced in October 2003 and was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
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