Former Refocus Financial Group and Diverse Capital Management director Brett Andrew Gordon appeared before the Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Friday, following an ASIC investigation.
ASIC had alleged that between 2015 and 2017, Mr Gordon dishonestly caused a detriment to the trustees of six self-managed superannuation funds by withdrawing a total of $502,000 from the SMSF bank accounts without authorisation. The trustees of the SMSFs were Mr Gordon’s clients.
Further, the regulator claimed that between 2016 and 2018, Mr Gordon had dishonestly paid $473,600 in personal debts and expenses, as well as Refocus business expenses, from funds belonging to Diverse.
The funds had allegedly been invested by SMSF clients for the purpose of participating in property development activities to generate a return.
The matter has been adjourned to 25 September 2020 for further mention in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court. It is being is being prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions following a referral from ASIC.
In July 2018, the Supreme Court of Queensland made orders by consent, to wind up Refocus and restrain Mr Gordon from carrying on a financial services business without holding an AFSL or being an authorised representative of an AFS licensee.
Why advertise when a crime has been alleged.
Even senior judges who gave spent years learning break the law.
[quote=Anonymous]Now you see everyone if this adviser did the FASEA national exam and 3-year post graduate degree this wouldn’t have happened!![/quote][quote=Anonymous]Now you see everyone if this adviser did the FASEA national exam and 3-year post graduate degree this wouldn’t have happened!![/quote]
Good piss him off, play the game, take the consequences.
What a cockhead! As if you’re not going to get caught sooner or later?
Deserves what he gets…what shits me is how absolute clowns like this damage the reputation of the industry (and the honest advisers out there doing great things for their clients). Every industry has crooks though – don’t be foolish and think otherwise.
Now you see everyone if this adviser did the FASEA national exam and 3-year post graduate degree this wouldn’t have happened!!
Now, if he’d have had sat the FARCE-IA ethics exam there’s no way he’d have offended like that. His ethics would simply not have allowed it. We’d have all known he was ethical once he passed that clever exam. Clever adviser too, to do what he did so I’m sure he would have passed. (sorry, couldn’t resist – it really is very sad this happens at all)
It’s very sad how often this happens. Need some protections in place to stop people ripping from SMSF I feel.
It seems to me the number of thieves & dodgy operators in the financial services industry Is disproportionate to the number of practitioners, compared to any other industry. Perhaps because I only read our trade media but it beggars belief that people still take from their clients and expect they won’t get caught… or do they expect to or indeed want to get caught??? The average being banned, charged, convicted, jailed seems to be one a week and has been for many many years. Clearly these people don’t learn from those that have gone before them. So sad.
You should have a look at the TPB banning orders….in excess of 170 last fin year. Strange we don’t hear about those banned for fraud etc???????
Seems to be a to regular occurrence with SMSF and property – Wickham Securities Etc