A former Sunshine Coast financial adviser who used funds from his clients’ SMSF accounts for personal use and business expenses has been permanently banned by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
The corporate watchdog stated it had imposed the ban on Brett Andrew Gordon from providing financial services and engaging in credit activities after he was convicted of fraud offences. Those offences resulted in Gordon being sentenced to six years’ jail in April 2023 after he pleaded guilty to nine counts of fraud totalling $652,500.
ASIC noted that under the Corporations Act and the National Consumer Credit Protection Act it can permanently ban a person from the financial services and credit industries if convicted of fraud.
The regulator said the ban prohibits Gordon from providing any financial services and engaging in any credit activities, controlling an entity that carries on a financial services business or engages in credit activities and performing any function involved in carrying on a financial services business or engaging in credit activities, including as an officer, manager, employee or contractor.
The ban is recorded in ASIC’s Banned and Disqualified Register and Gordon has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of the decision.
Gordon was a financial adviser and director of Refocus Financial Group Pty Ltd and between 2015 and 2018 ASIC found he dishonestly used funds deposited by clients for property development purposes to pay personal debts and expenses and Refocus business expenses.
