Ponzi scheme operators plead guilty to fraud charges
Two men have pleaded guilty in the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney to operating a Ponzi scheme called the Integrity Plus Fund.
On 5 June, Brian Wood pleaded guilty to a total of 10 charges, including six counts of making false statements to investors and four counts of fraudulently misappropriating investors' funds.
Also in Court, Jimmy Truong pleaded guilty to four charges of making false statements to investors.
Con Koutsoukos - another man involved in the scheme - has not entered a plea to three charges of making false statements to investors.
According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), both Wood and Truong falsely stated to investors that their investments would earn returns of 4 per cent per month and that the capital amounts of their investments were guaranteed.
Between December 2004 and December 2007, the Integrity Plus scheme raised in excess of $30 million from about 270 investors, the regulator stated.
ASIC then obtained injunctions from the Supreme Court of NSW against Wood, Truong and Koutsoukos and others preventing the fund from operating and securing investors' funds. A liquidator was appointed to the fund in June 2008.
Wood and Truong will next appear in the District Court at Sydney for sentencing on 15 June 2012. Koutsoukos' matter has been adjourned and he will next appear before the Downing Centre Local Court on 3 July 2012.
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