The former chief executive of van Eyk Research has been sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment, to be served by way of an intensive correction order, and 250 hours of community service for dishonestly using his position as a director with the intention of directly or indirectly gaining an advantage for himself.
Mark Peter Thomas received the sentence on 14 November handed down by the New South Wales District Court after pleading guilty on 31 May to breaching his directors’ duties.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) stated that in early 2014 Thomas dishonestly used his position as director of New Zealand-based van Eyk Research subsidiary Blueprint Investment Management by recommending and facilitating Blueprint investing nearly $5 million in a separate fund, the Wholesale Enhanced Income Fund.
Those funds were then loaned to another company, TAA Melbourne, to purchase an interest in van Eyk Research, of which Thomas was also chief executive, and in doing so he used his position as a director dishonestly with the intention of directly or indirectly gaining an advantage for himself.
ASIC added the transactions prevented a third party from gaining control of van Eyk Research and ensured Thomas would remain as chief executive and chief investment officer of the firm.
Thomas was convicted of breaching section 184 of the Corporations Act 2001 and in passing sentence, Judge Bourke described his conduct “complex and sophisticated” and noted he “breached his position of trust and responsibility”.
The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions following a referral from ASIC, and, according to the regulator, Judge Bourke took into consideration Thomas’s guilty plea, the loss of his career in financial services and due to his conviction he will be banned from managing a corporation for five years.
