Former stockbroker Lewis Fellowes has been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to three dishonesty charges, but has been spared prison time after entering into a $30,000, five-year good behaviour bond.
Mr Fellowes was sentenced in the Brisbane District Court earlier this month on dishonesty charges brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
He pleaded guilty to one charge of dishonestly using his position with the intention of directly gaining an advantage for someone else and two charges of dishonestly using his position with the intention of directly gaining an advantage for himself, totalling $1.595 million.
The charges stemmed from Mr Fellowes’ actions when he was a stockbroker for Tolhurst in Gladstone, Queensland, between 2008 and 2010.
The offences were discovered while he was working as state manager for Patersons Securities in Perth.
Asic commissioner John Price said stockbrokers and other financial advisers were in positions of trust and were expected to act honestly in their dealings with investors' money.
“Asic will ensure those who breach this trust, motivated by their own self-interest, are brought before the courts,” he said.
Between July 9 2008 and October 30 2008, Mr Fellowes used his position dishonestly with the intention of directly gaining an advantage for his wife by transferring a total of $170,000 from a client's Leveraged Equities account to his wife's personal Leveraged Equities account without the knowledge or authorisation of his client.
Between July 3 2009 and August 4 2009, Mr Fellowes transferred a total of $425,000 from three clients' Leveraged Equities accounts to his personal Leveraged Equities account without the knowledge or authorisation of his clients.
Between July 31 2009 and July 1 2010, Mr Fellowes transferred $1,000,000 from a joint client account to his personal bank account and later to his personal Leveraged Equities account without the knowledge or authorisation of his clients.
Further, Mr Fellowes failed to provide genuine and accurate financial information to his clients' accountant, and as a result, exposed his clients to the risks associated with providing incorrect information to the Australian Taxation Office.
On March 10 2015, ASIC permanently banned Mr Fellowes from providing financial services.
