Paul Anthony Scott was handed an eight month sentence, to be served via an intensive correction order – a type of community service – after pleading guilty in the Brisbane’s Magistrates Court to one count of lodging false documents with ASIC and one count of obstructing ASIC.
The investigation found that on 27 occasions between 1 July 2010 and 30 March 2013, Mr Scott lodged documents with ASIC concerning seven companies that contained false and misleading information, according to a statement from ASIC.
“The misleading information related to the citing of a fictitious person as a company director in various documents,” the statement said.
Mr Scott was also charged with obstructing ASIC after the investigation found evidence that Mr Scott and his former business partner, Mr Graeme Dwyer, lied about the existence of a fictitious director, Mr Edwards, during questioning by ASIC and took other steps to obstruct the investigation.
According to the statement, Mr Scott and Mr Dwyer ran a pre-appointment insolvency business on the Gold Coast between 2010 and 2012 and created a fictitious identity – Mr Edwards – to lodge false documents, replace a real person acting in the role of direction and create other false corporate records.
“Mr Scott also used the fictitious identity to facilitate deeds of company arrangement for debts owed by three companies in external administration (collectively known as the Glowclose Group),” the statement said.
“Messrs Dwyer and Scott had previously provided pre-appointment insolvency advice to the directors of these companies and four other companies, including Local Kids Pty Ltd.”
Surely the headline is wrong – if it is something crooked wouldn’t it be a financial planner?
As a number of us have said – cowboys and crooked operators in every profession, which further proves that operating solely under a fee for service arrangement or any amount of industry enforced qualifications, does not force one to have ethics or abide by the law…