A former company director who described himself as a financier/consultant has been sentenced to two years and nine months imprisonment for fraudulently misappropriating $281,000 of invested funds in a Queensland ‘house and land’ property development.
Steven William Hill, through Hill Stephens and Associates and International Finance Consortium, lured various investors to pay around $618,000 to acquire interests in a house and land property development.
Hill was found guilty of fraudulently misappropriating funds, and faces a minimum of one year and nine months to be served before becoming eligible for parole.
Investigations by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) revealed that Hill met with various investors in New South Wales between January 2006 and February 2007, and under the financier/consultant title, told investors he would provide them with investment opportunities to grow their retirement wealth.
He recommended they establish self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF) for investment, referred them to a solicitor to establish the SMSF, obtained establishment fees and told investors to deposit their funds to his company bank accounts.
He told investors their money would be used as ‘seed capital’ in various Queensland based property developments, with returns of between 10 to 30 per cent. However, the money was not invested in the property developments as originally informed to investors by Hill.
Hill was charged with eight counts of fraudulent misappropriation in 2013, and was ordered to stand trial on seven counts of fraudulent misappropriation in March 2015.
Hill was convicted on six counts of fraudulent misappropriation by a Sydney District Court in March, and was found not guilty of one charge of fraudulently misappropriating $150,000.
