Unlicensed trader sentenced to jail after fraud
Dr Roger Munro has been sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment after pleading guilty to fraud.
Munro was sentenced in the District Court of Queensland for the term, which included a non-parole period of 15 months, following an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
ASIC found Munro had received $299,600 from three investors between March 2013-April 2014 after he invited them to invest in his TradeStation Futures Trading Fund. Rather than investing the money, he spent it on personal expenses, made cash withdrawals, made payments to other investors and transferred funds into a trading account held in his wife’s name.
He continued to falsely represent to investors that the funds were invested by falsely reporting profit and losses made by TradeStation.
Munro pled guilty to three charges in July 2021 while two other fraud charges did not proceed.
He had previously been charged in 2015 by ASIC for carrying on a financial services business without holding an Australian financial services licence and by the Supreme Court of Queensland in February 2017 for breaching the Corporations Act and was permanently restrained from running a financial services business in Australia.
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
Recommended for you
The Governance Institute has said ASIC’s governance arrangements are no longer “fit for purpose” in a time when financial markets are quickly innovating and cyber crime becomes a threat.
Compliance professionals working in financial services are facing burnout risk as higher workloads, coupled with the ever-changing regulation, place notable strain on staff.
The Senate economics legislation committee has recommended Schedule 1 of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes legislation be passed as it is a “faithful implementation” of the recommendations.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has handed down his third budget, outlining the government’s macroeconomic forecasts and changes to superannuation.
