Former adviser sentenced to five years jail
A former Bell Potter Securities adviser has been sentenced to five years jail with a non-parole period of three-and-a-half years for fraudulent conduct that cost investors more than $1.6 million.
Glen Russell Evans pleaded guilty to 10 counts of misappropriating funds during his time as a director of Kismet Trading (now deregistered), a role he held while working at Bell Potter.
Between September 2002 and October 2008, Evans entered into contracts with individuals and self-managed superannuation funds to invest in listed Australian equities and derivatives, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) stated.
The regulator's investigation found that Evans failed to invest the money, provided false trading and performance reports, failed to repay the balance of the proceeds to the investors and, in some cases, used clients' money as collateral for his personal trading accounts without authorisation.
"As this outcome shows, we will not hesitate to take action to remove bad apples from the industry to ensure confidence in the financial services space remains strong," ASIC commissioner Greg Tanzer said.
This is the second prosecution in the last month involving a former Bell Potter securities adviser involved in dishonest conduct.
Following ASIC's investigation, the Sydney District Court handed Lawson Stuart Donald a two-year six-month sentence, fully suspended upon entering a two-year good behaviour bond, for misappropriating funds to the amount of more than $1.7 million.
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