The watchdog has announced that a former National Australia Bank (NAB) adviser has been charged for allegedly falsifying client documents, while another has pleaded guilty to making false statements to obtain money from clients and to the misappropriation of client funds.
Shane Thompson
Shane Thompson, the former NAB adviser from Victoria, has appeared in the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on two charges brought by the regulator that he forged financial planning documents, Asic said in a statement.
The watchdog alleged that, between 27 December 2012 and 1 March 2013, Thompson completed 22 false client change of adviser forms and submitted them to retail wealth manager MLC Ltd, part of the Nippon Life Insurance Group, to transfer NAB clients to his personal financial planning client list.
Asic also alleges that Thompson forged client signatures on each form and undertook this process without clients’ knowledge or authorisation so that he could receive additional financial planning remuneration from his employer, the NAB.
The maximum penalty for each offence is 10 years’ imprisonment.
Case adjourned
At a hearing on 31 July 2017, the matter was adjourned for a plea hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on 26 October 2017.
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) is prosecuting the matter.
Background
Thompson was employed by NAB as a financial planner during the time the alleged misconduct took place.
Asic had previously banned the adviser from providing financial services and credit activities for seven years.
Nicholas Ellis
In a second statement published on Friday, Asic announced that Nicholas Ellis had pleaded guilty in a Sydney court to two charges of making false or misleading statements to obtain money from clients and fraudulent misappropriation of client funds, respectively.
Ellis, an accountant and former financial adviser from Valentine, New South Wales (NSW) was banned for other reasons for six years back in 2013.
Asic said that following an investigation Ellis admitted that between about 23 March 2009 and about 18 July 2009 he sent 10 letters and one email to a number of his clients for the purpose of raising investment funds from them to purchase a hotel in Tura, NSW through his company, Tura Pty Limited.
The letters and email contained false and misleading statements in relation to the purchase of the hotel, and fraudulently misappropriated over A$500,000 (£301,141, $396,887, €334,700) of client funds received by Tura Pty Limited for his own purposes, Asic said.
Sentence expected in 2018
Ellis pleaded guilty to the charges on 4 August 2017. The matter has been set down for a sentencing hearing at the NSW District Court on 26 April 2018.
The maximum term of imprisonment for each charge is five years for obtaining money by false and misleading statements and seven years for fraudulent misappropriation, according to the statement.
As with the case of Shane Thompson, the prosecution is in the hands of the CDPP.
Wealth Management Project
These outcomes are a result of Asic’s Wealth Management Project, the watchdog said.
The Wealth Management Project was established in October 2014 with the objective of lifting standards by major financial advice providers and seeking regulatory outcomes against licensees and advisers when appropriate.
The project focuses on the conduct of the largest financial advice firms (NAB, Westpac, CBA, ANZ, AMP and Macquarie).
So far, 35 advisers have been banned from the financial services industry as a result of Asic’s enforcement of the programme. Two of them have current appeals before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
