Financial adviser’s ‘unforgivable’ fraud
A former Gold Coast financial adviser has been jailed for six years after he took money from his clients’ superannuation funds and used it to pay off his personal debts and expenses for himself and his business.
On Monday, the former owner of Refocus Financial Group, Brett Gordon, pleaded guilty to nine counts of fraud, totalling $652,000, following a large-scale investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Judge Ken Barlow KC said Gordon’s actions were “deliberate, fraudulent and unforgivable given his position of trust”, handing down a six-year jail sentence with a non-parole period of 1½ years.
Gordon withdrew money from his clients’ self-managed superannuation funds between 2015 to 2018, with Judge Barlow adding that Gordon did not attempt to repay his victims.
The investigation into Gordon began in 2018 after ASIC referred the matter to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
In 2018, ASIC alleged that Gordon had “recommended” his clients “establish self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF) and then advance unsecured loans to a related company, Diverse Capital Management Pty Ltd (Diverse) to undertake property development”. However, Diverse went into liquidation in 2018.
In 2020, Gordon was charged with 10 counts of fraud, totalling $975,000.
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