Six years' jail for former AFSL director

The former director of Sonray Capital Markets, Russell Johnson, received a sentence today after having pleaded guilty in October 2013 to seven criminal charges brought by ASIC.

“Today’s sentence, handed down in the Victorian Supreme Court, comes as a result of ASIC’s investigation into the company, which collapsed in 2010 owing more than $46 million. Subsequently, Mr Johnson was charged with multiple offences, including false accounting, theft and deception and conspiracy to steal,” said an ASIC statement.

“Mr Johnson is the second person to be jailed following the collapse of Sonray. In October 2011, former CEO, Mr Scott Kenneth Murray, was sentenced to five years jail with a non-parole period of two years and six months for 10 charges brought by ASIC.

“In sentencing Mr Johnson, Justice Macaulay said that the conduct engaged in was a serious example of the crimes charged, and that they had been committed with ‘a sophisticated degree of orchestration and planning’.”

Mr Johnson will serve a minimum of three-and-a-half years before he is eligible for parole.