Financial planner gets three years in jail for fraud
A former authorised representative of Bridges Financial Services (BFS) has been sentenced to three years imprisonment for defrauding his clients of $600,000.
Alan Leslie Brown of Lugarno, New South Wales, was sentenced in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court after pleading guilty to six charges brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
He will serve a minimum of 21 months in jail before he will be eligible for parole.
The court found that Brown fraudulently withdrew approximately $600,000 from five clients' accounts without their knowledge between July 2002 and July 2008.
Brown pleaded guilty on 10 May 2011 to one count of obtaining money by deception, one count of using a false instrument and four counts of dishonest conduct in relation to financial services.
He also forged a client's signature on a falsified withdrawal request, with the intention of using his client's money for his own purposes.
Brown was an authorised representative of BFS between 7 July 2007 and 13 May 2008. The ASIC investigation began after BFS alerted the regulator of Brown's conduct.
The case was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
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