Mr Darren Wise of Rhodes, New South Wales, a former financial adviser, has pleaded guilty in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court to three charges of dishonestly gaining a benefit, the making of false documents, and use of false documents involving over $1 million of his clients' assets.

Following an investigation by ASIC, Mr Wise admitted that between 23 October 1997 and 10 March 2006 he:

• created six applications for margin loans which falsely stated that clients had agreed to act as guarantors for the margin loans;

• provided the false margin lending applications with the intention of fraudulently inducing the lender to provide him margin loans; and

• on 67 separate occasions dishonestly gained a benefit for himself by lodging securities owned by five clients as collateral for the margin loans without the clients' authorisation.

Mr Wise dishonestly obtained a total of $1,070,700 under the margin loans as a result of his fraudulent application of client securities as collateral. Mr Wise used the money for his own purposes.

Mr Wise was granted bail and the matter has been committed to the Maroochydore District Court for sentence on a date to be fixed.

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions is prosecuting the matter.

Background

The maximum penalty for each of the charges is:

1. Section 488(1)(a) (Forgery), of the Criminal Code Act 1995(Qld), seven years imprisonment;
2. Section 488(1)(b) (Uttering a forged document) of Criminal Code Act 1995(Qld), seven years imprisonment;
3. Section 408C(1)(d) (Fraud), of the Criminal Code Act 1995(Qld), ten years.

The conduct occurred when Mr Wise was a financial adviser for a company formerly known as Financial Planning Services (Australia) Pty Limited (FPSA).

FPSA was formerly known as The Planning Corporation Pty Limited (26 October 1992 to 2 October 1995) and Poole Financial Planning Pty Limited (2 October 1995 to 5 September 2000).

Mr Wise owned FPSA from 5 September 2000 until he sold it on 9 May 2008.

Editor's note:

At a mention on 27 May 2016 in the Maroochydore District Court, the matter was stood over to 24 August 2016.

Editor's note 2:

On 24 August 2016, the matter was listed for sentence at the Maroochydore District Court on 14 November 2016.