Court jails crooked adviser
A SouthAustralian financial adviser has been sentenced to two years jail after an investigation conducted by theAustralian Securities and Investments Commission(ASIC) revealed he misled and stole from an elderly client.
David Paul Mudge, a former Adelaide adviser, was sentenced recently in the Adelaide District Court to 27 months imprisonment, to be released after serving 12 months with a good behaviour bond for a further 15 months.
Between September 1999 and October 2001, Mudge presented a number of documents to one of his elderly clients, each time concealing the fact that the documents authorised him to transfer money from her investments either to himself personally or his company.
In this way, Mudge dishonestly withdrew almost $200,000 from his client’s account, which he then used for his own ends.
Mudge had earlier pleaded guilty to the charge of inducing a person to deal in securities with the dishonest concealment of material facts.
ASIC has now made an application to the Federal Court that proceeds from the sale of property associated with the guilty adviser be frozen to aid in the recovery of his client’s funds.
ASIC says nearly half of the money has been recovered, with the balance still remaining outstanding after Mudge was ordered to pay out more than $215,000 to his victim.
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