Accountant to stand trial on 30 criminal charges
LGH Holdings director and accountant Mark Ronald Letten will stand trial on more than 30 criminal charges in relation to property holdings and development of real property throughout Australia and New Zealand.
The decision came after a 10-day contested committal hearing relating to 37 criminal charges which were laid in December 2011 following an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigation.
Letten is facing 21 counts of operating unregistered managed investment schemes, one count of carrying on a financial services business without an Australian financial services (AFS) licence, and 15 counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception involving approximately $1.4 million.
Letten could serve five years imprisonment for each of the unregistered scheme charges, up to two years for failing to obtain a AFS licence, and a maximum 10 years for obtaining financial advantage by deception.
The South Yarra resident has been granted conditional bail to appear at the Victoria Country Court on 20 March 2013 for a directions hearing.
In 2010 ASIC shut down 15 unregistered managed investment schemes operated by Letten. During 2011 the scheme-related companies were placed in liquidation, with the liquidators estimating that over $100 million was collected from about 1000 investors between 1998 and 2010.
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