ASIC has permanently banned Mr James Appadoo from providing financial services following his recent conviction in the County Court of Victoria of one charge of theft of $1m.
Mr Appadoo was employed as a Team Leader in the settlements department at Linear Asset Management Limited (Linear), which is the responsible entity of the registered managed investment scheme, Linear Managed Accounts (LMA). LMA is offered to members as an investment and administration platform. Linear, as a platform provider for investment administration, has clients who collectively represent assets under management of over $50 billion.
Mr Appadoo used his position as Team Leader to steal $1m from a LMA client's account, by falsely signing withdrawal slips and crediting his own bank accounts.
Mr Appadoo admitted:
- that he owed approximately 25 people substantial amounts of money
- the debt he owed was approximately $700,000 which he had acquired from gambling and failed investments
- that he had stolen the investors' funds to repay a $700,000 debt he acquired from gambling and failed investments over the years
- that he paid off all the people he owed money to and gambled the remainder amount on Tattslotto.
Background
On 27 February 2015, Mr Appadoo was convicted of theft and sentenced to three years and six months imprisonment. Mr Appadoo was ordered to serve a minimum period of two years imprisonment before being released. The Office of the Public Prosecutions (Victoria) and Victoria Police prosecuted this matter.