Ponzi scheme operator pleads guilty
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has prosecuted a Victorian woman who it has described as a Ponzi scheme operator.
The regulator announced this week that the woman, Hazel Bernice Brucello, had pleaded guilty in the Melbourne County Court to six counts of deception related to her role as the sole director of a loan and mortgage broking business, Victorian Finance Broking Services.
ASIC said Brucello had pleaded guilty to five counts of obtaining property by deception and one count of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
It said the six counts of deception involved a sum of $2,531,139 that was invested by five investors between 2004 and 2006, with the investors being told the money would be used to provide bridging finance to other clients.
ASIC said the investors were promised between 4 per cent and 5 per cent interest per month on their invested capital.
The regulator said its investigation found the investors were, in fact, being repaid with their own money (as is typical in a Ponzi scheme) and that the scheme was reliant on new funds being invested to meet the promised interest payments.
It said that while some of the victims received interest payments, the capital invested was not repaid.
Brucello will be remanded on bail until early May for a plea hearing and sentencing.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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