Victims share ‘heartbreaking’ loss at hands of fraudulent adviser

Two victims of Ben Jayaweera, who was sentenced to 12 years in jail this week, detailed how the fraud was “truly heartbreaking” after they lost $260,000 at his hands.

Ben Jayaweera, a former financial adviser and director of Growth Plus Financial Group Pty Ltd of Mt Gravatt, was found guilty of six charges of fraud contrary to section 408C(1)(e) Criminal Code Act 1899 (Qld) on 23 August in the Brisbane District Court. 

Six counts on the indictment related to 28 transactions affecting 12 clients. The offending took place between August 2013 and November 2015, resulting in a total detriment of $5,958,870 to 12 of his former clients.

This was invested in a South Australian abalone farm where Jayaweera was a sole director and later wound up with no returns available for investors.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Moynihan KC said the serious offences of Jayaweera were “deliberate, sophisticated and systematic”. 

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He was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment on 26 August and will be eligible for parole after six years, with 977 days of pre-sentence custody declared as time already served. 

This was the second time that Jayaweera had been sentenced for his actions. He previously appeared in court in October 2019 and was sentenced to 12 years in jail. He then appealed the case in November 2019 which was heard by the Queensland Court of Appeal in November 2021; the conviction was quashed and a retrial was ordered in June 2022.

Back in 2020, a pre-budget submission made to Treasury by an affected couple detailed how they had lost $260,000 in the scheme and urged for a Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR) to be set up to help them.

“To find oneself in this hopeless situation through no fault of your own when nearing or at retirement age is truly heartbreaking. The anger and hopelessness of being told that your investment is now worth $0, with absolutely no avenue to air these grievances is life-changing.

“In the three years since our investment was deemed valueless, we have sold every asset we owned apart from our home and cars to attempt to recoup some losses.

“It is degrading and insulting for hardworking Australians to be left in this position indefinitely with no hope of compensation.”

It requested the CSLR be fast-tracked to mid-2020 instead of 2021, the anticipated date at the time of the submission, as the government had committed to establishing the CSLR by 31 December 2020.

Complaints to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) against insolvent financial firms were put on pause in April 2020, while AFCA awaited details about the scope and timing of the CSLR.

However, it subsequently took more than four years for the scheme to launch, with it not being introduced until April 2024.

It is unknown if the couple are eligible for the new CSLR scheme. 

Fraud scheme

Between August 2013 and November 2015, he dishonestly obtained client money via two methods:

• He induced clients to invest in the Australian Diversified Sector Investment Fund (ADSIF) by misrepresenting the attributes/qualities of the fund to give the impression that it was a diversified investment fund holding assets in a range of asset classes. Those investment monies were then transferred to one of Jayaweera’s corporate entity accounts.
• He encouraged clients to establish self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs), which involved transferring the clients’ superannuation funds into a newly set up bank account with the Adelaide Bank. Jayaweera then transferred money from those accounts to one of his corporate entity accounts without authority. In some cases, funds were removed from clients’ SMSFs without their knowledge or consent.

Both verbally and in writing, he told clients that the ADSIF was a diversified fund which held underlying assets in aquaculture, agriculture, property and cash, and that there was a maximum fund allocation assigned to each asset.

However, he failed to inform them that the only assets in ADSIF was in the form of loans to his private corporate entities, which held assets in an abalone farming project in South Australia in which he had a controlling interest as sole director and shareholder. 

Given ADSIF held no physical assets, this meant there was no capacity for the investment to achieve the capital growth. 

Judge Moynihan KC described the actions as “brazen, gross and callous”, and noted he had failed to demonstrate any remorse for his actions.

The abalone farm was wound up by receivers and the liquidators of Growth Plus, and there were no returns available for ADSIF investors. 

Jayaweera will be eligible for parole after six years, with 977 days of pre-sentence custody declared as time already served.