Wattle promoter gets 10 years

Wattle Group investment scheme founder Geoffrey Robert Dexter has received a 10-year jail sentence for his part in the investment scam that rocked the investment industry in 1998.

Dexter was found guilty by Judge Samios in the Brisbane District Court of inducing people to invest in the Wattle Group investment scheme on the basis of false pretences, false promises and dishonest information. The charges were brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

The sentence is a culmination of the ongoing saga for Dexter, who was restrained from operating the Wattle Group scheme, banned as an advisor and declared bankrupt in March 1998. He then faced 64 charges brought by ASIC in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on February 5, 1999.

The Wattle Group investment scheme had more than 2700 investors from across Australia who had put up a total of $165 million. Investors were told their funds were on-loaned on a short-term basis to provide returns of up to 50 per cent. What actually happened was that the scheme paid interest and refunds to investors entirely out of the incoming funds of new investors entering the scheme.

ASIC chairman David Knott has declared the sentence term "appropriate" and says it should be a warning to promoters of scams and those who invest in them.

"These types of scams are far too prevalent in our society, causing serious loss and distress to consumers," he says.

On top of the 10-year jail sentence for dishonest inducement, Dexter received a five-year jail sentence for 30 other charges, which will be served concurrently.

The failed investment scheme has also claimed other involved financial advisers including 10 banned for between one to five years, and a further 13 people committed to trial on ASIC charges.