Former company director Steven William Hill has been sentenced in the Sydney District Court to two years and nine months’ imprisonment, following an ASIC investigation that discovered Hill persuaded investors to set up SMSFs and invest in sham property investments.
Hill will serve a minimum of one year and nine months before becoming eligible for parole.
ASIC alleged that between January 2006 and February 2007, Hill, through Hill Stephens & Associates Pty Ltd and International Finance Consortium (Aust) Pty Ltd, induced a number of investors to pay about $618,000 to acquire interests in a “house and land” property development located in Queensland.
The defendant was found guilty of fraudulently misappropriating $281,000 of the invested funds, which were directed to company bank accounts to make payments to Hill and other third parties.
“Hill’s actions betrayed the trust of his investors and caused them significant financial harm,” ASIC commissioner Greg Tanzer said.
“Today’s sentence showed such behaviour will not be tolerated.”
The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
