A former Brisbane-based financial adviser has been convicted on 28 counts of fraud involving nearly $6 million obtained from investors, some of whom redirected SMSF monies to an unregistered managed investment scheme.
Ben Jayaweera, the former director of Growth Plus Financial Group Pty Ltd, was convicted in the Brisbane District Court on 23 August under section 408 of the Criminal Code Act in regards to fraudulent activities between August 2013 and November 2015 that led to total financial losses of $5,958,870.
An Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigation revealed Jayaweera had encouraged investors, including those with SMSFs, to transfer funds into an unregistered scheme, the Australian Diversified Sector Income Fund (ADSIF).
Jayaweera promised clients this would be a lucrative opportunity to grow their retirement savings.
He falsely claimed ADSIF was a diversified fund investing in cash, property, shares, aquaculture and agriculture, when in reality the only investment was a single project, an abalone farm in South Australia, controlled by entities under his direction.
Additionally, the investigation found he had invested some clients’ superannuation funds into ADSIF without their knowledge or consent. The misappropriated funds were then diverted to company bank accounts to finance the abalone farm and other third-party payments.
In 2016, ASIC initiated civil proceedings against Growth Plus and Jayaweera in the Queensland Supreme Court, resulting in the winding up of both Growth Plus and the abalone farm.
Jayaweera was initially sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment in 2019, however, he appealed the conviction in the Queensland Court of Appeal in November 2021, leading to the court ordering a retrial in June 2022.
The appeal and retrial were allowed on the grounds that deficiencies in the trial judge’s directions to the jury resulted in a miscarriage of justice.
At the time of the first trial in 2019, Justice Richards noted the offences involved a high level of planning, sophistication and persistence, observing investors had been robbed of their retirement savings and Jayaweera had committed a gross breach of trust.
The matter was prosecuted by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions following an investigation and referral by ASIC and Jayaweera has been remanded in custody pending sentencing.
