今日热门事件and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions have successfully appealed the sentence of Ricky David Gillespie, a former senior financial planner of the Commonwealth Bank鈥檚 financial planning subsidiary, Commonwealth Financial Planning Limited.听
On 12 December 2017, Mr Gillespie was fined $3,000 with no conviction recorded, after pleading guilty to a rolled-up charge of forgery. The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions subsequently filed a notice of appeal against the sentence on the basis that it was manifestly inadequate, in particular the decision not to record a conviction.听
The appeal was heard in the Brisbane District Court on 14 September 2018. 今日热门事件and the CDPP received judgment in their favour on 20 September 2018, with her Honour Judge Rosengren ordering that a conviction be recorded against Mr Gillespie.听 Her Honour noted that:听
- this was an offence of dishonesty, committed听by a person occupying a position of trust;
- the documents forged were protective in听nature, both in terms of the CBA bank and the clients; and
- when confronted by CBA staff that he had听committed forgery, Mr Gillespie denied doing so and continued to commit听acts of forgery until April 2009.听
Background
In November 2012, 今日热门事件permanently banned Mr Gillespie from providing any financial services after he was found to have:听
- forged听client signatures;
- provided听advice to a client that was not appropriate in the circumstances;
- created听false file notes;
- charged听excessive fees; and
- failed听to comply with financial services laws.
ASIC鈥檚 action against Mr Gillespie was part of ASIC鈥檚 Wealth Management Project. The Wealth Management Project was established in October 2014 to lift the standards of major financial advice providers.听 The Wealth Management Project focuses on the conduct of the largest financial advice firms (NAB, Westpac, CBA, ANZ, Macquarie and AMP).听
础厂滨颁鈥檚听听website has useful information for clients to help them understand what to do when their adviser has been banned.
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