Former FPA chair jailed over fraud
The formerchair of the Financial Planning Association’s (FPA) Canberra chapter has been jailed for up to six years for stealing funds from his clients in a failed attempt to rescue a doomed ski lodge development.
Warren John Aitken, the FPA’s Canberra chair until 1999, was convicted after pleading guilty to 17 charges relating to the theft of more than $425,000 from three clients between November 1999 and May 2000.
Aitken, a representative of the Futures Financial Group from 1996 to 2000, used the funds without the consent of his clients in an attempt to keep afloat a Perisher Valley property development company in which he was a director.
The company eventually collapsed into liquidation, taking with it the funds illegally obtained by Aitken.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) last year banned Aitken from acting as an investment adviser for life because of his involvement with the ski lodge development.
Aitken will be eligible for parole in two years.
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