ASIC has permanently banned Patrick Simon Mitchell from providing financial services.
Mr Mitchell was banned after pleading guilty and being convicted of 25 counts of stealing in the Supreme Court of Tasmania on 2 March 2017, following an investigation by Tasmania Police. Mr Mitchell was sentenced to eight years jail and will be eligible for parole after serving five years.
The charges related to Mr Mitchell misappropriating a total of $2,354,497 from a client of his financial services practice to fund an extravagant lifestyle. Mr Mitchell's conduct occurred over a period of approximately four years and, for the majority of that time, he was an authorised financial services representative of a subsidiary of National Australia Bank (NAB).
ASIC Deputy Chairman Peter Kell said, "ASIC will act to remove people from the financial services industry who act dishonestly and breach the trust of their clients."
The banning is effective from 26 May 2017.
Background
ASIC has the power to permanently ban a person from providing financial services without a hearing if the person is convicted of "serious fraud", such as stealing.
Wealth Management Project
This outcome is a result of ASIC's Wealth Management Project. The Wealth Management Project was established in October 2014 with the objective of lifting standards by major financial advice providers. The Wealth Management Project focuses on the conduct of the largest financial advice firms (NAB, Westpac, CBA, ANZ, AMP and Macquarie).
ASIC's work in the Wealth Management Project covers a number of areas including:
- Working with the largest financial advice firms to address the identification and remediation of non-compliant advice; and
- Seeking regulatory outcomes when appropriate against licensees and advisers.
As part of its Wealth Management Project, ASIC has banned 29 advisers (in addition to Mr Mitchell) from the financial services industry.