Ex-Sherwin principal pleads guilty to 25 fraud charges


The former principal of Sherwin Financial Planners and chair of Wickham Securities, Bradley Thomas Sherwin, has pleaded guilty to 25 charges brought by the corporate watchdog after the collapse of his planning business.
Appearing at the Brisbane District Court, Sherwin pleaded guilty to 24 counts of dishonestly causing detriment between May 2009 and December 2012 to the value of nearly $10 million to a number of Sherwin clients, and one count of dishonestly breaching his duties as a Wickham director between June 2010 and October 2010.
Sherwin will be sentenced on 14 November 2017. He did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody.
Wickham Securities collapsed in December 2012 and owed more than $27 million to approximately 300 debenture holders. Sherwin Financial Planners and other companies of which Sherwin was a director collapsed in January 2013, owing more than $30 million to clients of Sherwin Financial Planners.
Sherwin was permanently banned from providing financial services in May 2016 by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
The Commonwealth director of public prosecutions is prosecuting the matter.
Recommended for you
ASIC has launched court proceedings against the responsible entity of three managed investment schemes with around 600 retail investors.
There is a gap in the market for Australian advisers to help individuals with succession planning as the country has been noted by Capital Group for being overly “hands off” around inheritances.
ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of an advice firm associated with Shield and First Guardian collapses, and permanently banned its responsible manager.
Having peaked at more than 40 per cent growth since the first M&A bid, Insignia Financial shares have returned to earth six months later as the company awaits a final decision from CC Capital.