Appearing at the District Court of Western Australia on Thursday, Anthony Paul Torre was sentenced by his honour Judge John Prior to six years imprisonment. This was backdated to 29 January 2025 with eligibility for parole after four years.
In February 2025, Torre had pleaded guilty to three counts of stealing and two counts of fraud, resulting in the misappropriation of $1,030,000 of client funds.
ASIC had alleged that between March 2010 and January 2015, Torre stole, or with intent to defraud obtained, money from his clients, and used funds from his clients’ accounts for his own benefit.
He had first been charged with the offences on 17 June 2022 and later pled not guilty for all charges on 13 July 2023 before the matter was adjourned for a trial in January 2025 with the court noting Torre only pleaded guilty at a late stage and had stopped his theft only once ASIC investigated.
Judge Prior said: “I must impose a sentence that will deter other professionals such as financial advisers who might be minded to think that they can use their client’s money inconsistently and against their client’s instructions and authorities.
“When I reconsider the circumstances of your case, given the sentence imposed, I’m positively satisfied, when I reconsider all those circumstances, the offences are far too serious for the sentence of imprisonment to be suspended in any capacity.”
Following the sentencing, ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said Torre had “betrayed the trust of his clients and left many of them financially devastated”.
“The sentence imposed by the Court demonstrates the seriousness of the financial harm Mr Torre caused his clients and sends a clear message that misconduct predicated on trust will not be tolerated,” Court said.
‘Acting in a predatory capacity’
Judge Prior described how Torre stole or defrauded clients who had trusted and relied on his professional skills to invest their superannuation funds and life savings.
“You stole or fraudulently deprived the victims of their superannuation funds in their superannuation’s accounts. What you did in committing these five offences was done without the victims’ knowledge.
“The victims lost opportunities to benefit from their investment in their superannuation funds and in some cases, you deceived the victims when they made inquiries as to their superannuation funds by indicating what sort of investments were being made and whether the investments were still in existence and, in some cases, whether the investments were secured.”
Describing the lifestyle impact his victims had suffered, Judge Prior said Torre’s work had seen them return to work, sign up for government benefits, delay retirement, suffer health issues such as depression and high blood pressure as well as incur further costs in pursuing legal action against Torre.
“Some victims describe frustrating efforts in pursuing you and the substantial time they’ve spent to recover money. Some victims describe you as grooming them and acting in a predatory capacity against them.”
Commenting on what may have prompted Torre to enact the theft, Judge Prior specifically described how Torre had been driven by greed rather than an addiction or mental health problem as is often the case in similar scenarios.
“Often these types of offences, when committed by middle-aged persons of good character, are committed by persons with these types of addictions. I find your offending was due to a combination of greed, incompetence and arrogance. You used a substantial amount of the money to support your own lifestyle and your personal business interests.”
He noted Torre had repaid almost $600,000 to the victims and others had received compensation from third parties although three victims have received zero money back.
The matter was prosecuted by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) following an investigation and referral by ASIC.
