The Brisbane District Court has sentenced a former Perth stockbroker to three years’ imprisonment for dishonestly using clients’ funds.
Lewis Anthony Wright Fellowes earlier pleaded guilty to the dishonesty charges brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), which related to his time as a stockbroker for Tolhurst in Gladstone, Queensland.
He pleaded guilty to one charge of dishonestly using his position with the intention of directly gaining an advantage for someone else, after transferring $170,000 from a client’s leveraged equities account to his wife’s in 2008. He did so without the knowledge or authorisation of the client.
Fellowes also admitted guilt regarding two instances of using his position dishonestly with the intention of directly gaining an advantage for himself. In 2009, he transferred a total of $425,000 from three clients’ leveraged equities accounts to his own, without their knowledge.
From 2009 to 2010, he also transferred $1,000,000 from a joint client account to his personal bank account, then to his leveraged equities account, again without client authorisation.
While Fellowes’ sentence is for three years imprisonment, he can be released immediately upon entering into a $30,000, five-year good behaviour bond.
ASIC commissioner, John Price, said that ASIC is committed to ensuring that stockbrokers who act dishonestly such as Fellowes are held to account.
“Stockbrokers and other financial advisers are in positions of trust and are expected to act honestly in their dealings with investors’ money. ASIC will ensure those who breach this trust, motivated by their own self-interest, are brought before the courts,” he said.
In March 2015, ASIC permanently banned Fellowes from providing financial services for life as a result of his dishonesty while at Tolhurst, under the good fame and character requirement of section 920A of the Corporations Act.
