ASIC nabs two more advisers
Two more advisers have been up before the courts as a result of two Australian Se-curities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigations.
Two more advisers have been up before the courts as a result of two Australian Se-curities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigations.
Sydney-based investment adviser Larry Westwood has been gaoled for two years after pleading guilty to 13 ASIC charges.
Westwood, formerly an adviser at Benwest Investment Services and later, Larry Westwood Investment Services, was found to have misappropriated $114,000 from four of his clients between June 1989 and August 1995.
These funds were invested in two companies, Timaca Pty Ltd and Tavlir Pty Ltd, both of which were controlled by Westwood. Westwood told his clients the funds were invested in capital guaranteed products.
Westwood had been unlicensed to provide securities advice since December 1992 and was declared bankrupt in March 1998.
Meanwhile, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) recently reduced a ban-ning order issued by ASIC last July against ABN AMRO securities representative Andrew Donald.
Donald was banned from acting as a representative of a dealer group for four years following an ASIC investigation into the trading of shares in Burswood Limited in early 1998. In May 1998, contrary to the instructions given him by his clients, Donald purchased shares in Burswood at a price higher than that available on the open market.
The AAT reduced the ban on Donald to two years, who lost his job with ABN AMRO as the ultimate result of the ASIC ban. The review was as a result of Don-ald losing his job, as well as his age, previous record and the high regard his col-leagues had for him.
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