Mr Gillespie’s sentencing comes after he pleaded guilty to a rolled-up charge of forging 33 client documents.
The bank has already paid out approximately $2.2 million in compensation to former clients of Mr Gillespie following an internal review of advice provided.
The Gold Coast-based former adviser was one of a number of Commonwealth FP authorised representatives at the centre of the media storm and parliamentary inquiry into the bank’s financial advice operations.
In 2012, Mr Gillespie was permanently banned by ASIC.
The Banks Own ASIC and O’Dwyer, it’s never been clearer.
What an appalling result. I can understand some leniency when a person pleads guilty but this does send the wrong message to participants in any industry susceptible to white collar client. Furthermore his banning in financial services could leave the door open for the credit industry. Hmmm
What a complete joke……
Running onto the field of the SCG or MCG incurs a greater fine without any potential client financial client detriment…
The other month the government came out with some ridiculous penalty of 5 years jail if you failed to simply provide a SOA. yet you can commit fraud and get nothing! Work that out. But don’t worry ASICS response will be to regulate all the law abiding advisers even more now.
Bloody unbelievable! Oops, I’ll probably get fined more than $3K for swearing in public!
I’m shocked it’s only a $3K fine – I was expecting this crook to be locked up and the key thrown away. Is our legal system really serious about sending a message on white collar crime? Apparently not. I wonder what the new head of ASIC thinks of it?
ASIC would say it’s the perfect outcome ? Really does highlight and reinforces the model the regulator wants. That being you get advice from the so called “trusted accountant” all 180,000 of them usually at the end of a 15 minute tax return meeting and then go out buy the physical product whether that be a super fund or an insurance policy from a Bank, a call centre or AMP. When it goes wrong the bank/AMP pays out. From their perspective in this case they think no one got hurt, they all got their money back and CBA is $2.2 million lighter. A deeply flawed model. Advisers need to recognize they are an endangered species under this model.
This is disgusting. Nothing else can be said. Why should anyone take our industry seriously…
the law is an ass Aleks
we have the proceeds of crime act for criminals that allows the police to seize assets that were obtained through ill-gotten gain
yet this is not applied to an adviser Why?
given he fraudulently forged signatures according to the report both a custodial sentence and implementation of the POCA should be the minimum
this is so morally and ethically wrong, sending the wrong signal to the industry
i think many will be leaving the industry over the next 12 months Tony.
But Geez, lucky this CBA guy gave out his FSG’s otherwise he could have faced a few years goal and more than 3 times the fine!!!!
OMG crime certainly does pay. Gillespie will probably set up sales motivation business with Wolf of Wall, Street Belford ……
WOW, that does seem like a let-off. I’ll go out on a limb here and say this bloke was probably one the mob of CBA Bank Planners who realised he could increase his monthly commission statement by moving clients into a riskier asset allocation. Those old legacy products at CBA pay a higher commission when you move a client from, say, a cap-secure fund to a growth fund. What’s a few forged signatures between friends? Especially when it increases your income by 40%. A slap on the wrist in court, too easy.
What a joke, no wonder people have no faith in this industry
I think you’ll find that this decision is why people have no faith in the judicial system. His conduct has been roundly criticised by those in the industry and after all we are not the one’s in charge of the sentencing or penalty handed down. There seems to be some massive discrepancies between the ‘crime’ and the ‘penalty’ in many of these cases. Gillespie gets $3K fine and no conviction. Greg Medcraft’s cousin gets done for misleading & deceptive conduct on a grand scale and only cops a $22K fine despite making plenty from the scheme. NSG (who probably arent angels but) cop a $1M fine and other penalties for failing the very subjective Best Interests Duty. It’s all horrible skewed in my opinion.
NSG were total cowboys, a boiler room by every definition (just go and read the court transcript). that business was making ~$11m pa in revenue at the time it was caught, and it cops a $1m fine……. quite a reasonable cost of doing business really.
How can we get this industry straight when these cop outs happen. Surely this guy [Gillespie] can easily find the $3,000 [b]with no conviction[/b] he can simply start up as a new company and hire a qualified licensed adviser and instruct him how to do illegal things again. The judiciary needs to stop catering to the banks and send a clear message that this shit will not be tolerated. If this was an independent I would feel sure he would get a jail term at least. I am so sick of these bank johnnies getting away with this shit yet we as independents get slammed with all the bloody rules and regs to follow. Thank heavens I am getting out now as it will be even worse next year.
The bank has ZERO interest in this guy getting wrist slap. Penalty here comes down to either what the forgeries actually were and/or a light sentencing magistrate. Banks can be bastards but there was no love lost here.
So, if you’re entrusted with a client’s wealth and choose to obtain financial benefit by deception, you face a $3000 fine, with no conviction recorded. Well done Magistrate. That’s a real deterrent to anyone else considering doing the same. What a joke!