The director of a Melbourne-based loan and mortgage broking business has been sentenced today in the County Court of Victoria to four years and nine months imprisonment following an ASIC investigation.

Mrs Hazel Bucello, the sole director of Victorian Finance Broking Services Pty Ltd (VFBS) in Kew, will serve a minimum of two and a half years in prison before being considered for parole after pleading guilty on 1 March 2010 to the following charges:

• five counts of obtaining property worth $2,384,339 by deception; and

• one count of obtaining a financial advantage by deception worth $141,800.

ASIC alleged that between 2004 and 2006, five individuals invested over $2.5 million with Mrs Bucello on the understanding their funds would be used to provide bridging finance to other VFBS clients. The investors were promised between 4 and 5 per cent interest per month on their invested capital.

ASIC’s investigation found that investors were in fact being repaid their own money, as is typical of a ponzi scheme, and that the scheme was reliant on new funds being invested to meet the promised interest payments. Those who invested at the very beginning fared much better than the last investor, who received no interest payments.

While some of the investors received interest payments, the capital invested was not repaid. Ms Bucello used the remaining money to meet the financial obligations of VFBS and for her own purposes. VFBS collapsed in June 2006.

Mrs Bucello was also ordered by the Court to pay $1,207,537 in compensation to the investors.

The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

Editor's note:

Mrs Bucello's application to appeal against the sentence imposed was dismissed on 26 April 2012 by the Supreme Court of Victoria.