A former AMP financial adviser, Laurence John Tobin, has been sentenced to two and a half years jail after pleading guilty to charges laid by theAustralian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Tobin, of Northbridge in Sydney, was sentenced last Friday after having pleaded guilty in July to 23 charges of obtaining money from investors under false pretences and with intent defraud.
ASIC alleged that Tobin obtained a total of $314,000 from investors for investment in a scheme called the ‘Twinelles Mortgage Reserve Fund’. However ASIC alleged the scheme never existed and the money was instead used by Tobin for his own benefit.
ASIC chairman David Knott says the jail sentence reflects the regulator’s willingness to take stiff action against unscrupulous financial advisers.
“ASIC has an ongoing campaign to raise the levels of financial advice in Australia, and to remove unscrupulous advisers from the industry,” Knott says.
“In addition to completed and ongoing prosecutions of financial advisers and dealers, ASIC has this year removed a further 30 people from the industry, either permanently or for specific periods. These people represent a very small section of the financial planning industry, and bring discredit on the vast majority of honest advisers.”
Tobin, who was declared bankrupt in November 1996, was a financial adviser with AMP from September 1970 to September 1996.
According to ASIC, many of Tobin’s clients were not aware he was no longer associated with AMP after 1986, continuing to both follow his advice and entrust him with the management of their financial affairs.
Tobin’s sentence includes a non-parole period of 12 months.
