Life ban for Charter adviser
Former Charter Financial Planning adviser Robert Bean has been given a life ban by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) after being found to have defrauded more than $3 million from clients.
The offences took place between 30 June 2003 and 30 June 2010 when Bean, of St Peters in South Australia, was a securities representative and an authorised representative of Charter.
The ASIC investigation found Bean acted dishonestly and in breach of financial services laws in misappropriating more than $3.1 million from eight of his clients’ investment and superannuation accounts, the regulator stated.
The majority of defrauded funds were paid to unrelated clients and other third parties, while some was also used for Bean’s personal benefit, ASIC stated.
Charter brought the conduct of Bean to ASIC’s attention and co-operated fully with the regulator throughout the process, and has also fully compensated all clients affected, ASIC stated.
ASIC said that it banned Bean in order to protect the public, deter similar conduct and maintain consumer confidence in the financial services sector.
Bean has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision, ASIC stated.
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